The Carriers of Salvation
by LittleMarshmallows
Summary: A few years after coming home from her journeys, Dawn sets off on another one, one that will most likely change her life drastically. She meets up with three others and together they set off on their journey. Though things take a turn for the worse, the world is in turmoil. Updates every Monday! Includes Ikari, Contest, Poke, Geekchic, Wishful
1. Prolouge

**Prologue**

"This is a ridiculous idea." The woman hissed to the very tall and muscular man next to her. "We're competent enough to go through with the plans ourselves; I don't understand why we're taking orders from that man, much less working together with Magma." The woman tapped furiously on a computer, eyeing her companion briefly. "What the hell is Archie thinking?" She spat out.

"Archie's a good man and all, my best bro, but even I have no clue what's going through his head." The buff man replied in a much kinder tone of voice than the woman. "I'd prefer it to just be Magma; at least they come from the same region as us." He too was tapping away on a separate computer, his fingers made a loud tapping noise as well, but for a different reason, not because he was boiling over with anger, just out of the brute strength from his fingers. "But if what that guy promises is true then I guess I can deal with it for a bit, until Archie gets his sea legs and gets all the control, my bro can do that."

Shelly rolled her eyes, her icy blue gaze could pierce the computer screen in front of her from the harshness of her stare, "Archie better get his damn sea legs quickly then. I can't stand that pink haired bimbo much less the fatty. I want to rip them to shreds. Magma is so obnoxious." She spat. "Hoenn will be a wondrous place to live in once Team Aqua takes over. It'll be the true definition of 'heaven on earth'."

"Wondrous?" Matt questioned. "Not so sure about that."

"For us it will." Shelly clarified. "Team Aqua is Archie's family, especially us." The corner of her mouth tilted up into a smirk. "As his precious admins he needs to protect us since we aid him at every beck and call he asks us of. We know all of his secrets, every last one. Archie is awful at hiding emotions, you can read him better than a children's cardboard book." She pulled a sheet towards herself and began looking from it to the screen. "He'd be stupid to keep anything from his admins; we hide his issues better than he does himself. The world will be wondrous for us, we'll have control over the seas, we can flood any region needed, they all have water surrounding them; not even the farthest inland cities will be safe from our wrath. Kyogre is the ultimate weapon for our world domination." Shelly finished her work and leaned back with a wide grin, her eyes matched the malicious smile. "We just have to take out the head of our mass organization first, and with our own organization, that won't be a problem. Our recruits are twice as large as any other, besides Plasma, but with Ghetsis dead and their precious Prince Natural Harmonia missing, Aqua has the world for the taking. Not a single group will oppress us. We'll be this region's heroes of sorts, their saviours; their salvation." She narrowed her eye at the pleasant thought.

Matt let out a loud reverberating laugh that echoed throughout the room, bouncing off of the steel walls and high ceiling. "You better be right Shelly, you're never wrong though, our numbers have tripled in the past three years right?"

"Quadrupled." She corrected. "Not even that wimp kid from three years ago can attempt to stop us, we can just kill him on the spot. No officers will question us either; their ranks are filled with our people."

"Magma too?"

Shelly nodded. "We're in Magma too, we know of all their plans. Haven't you heard all the intel?" She looked at him quizzically, pursing her lips slightly.

Matt shook his head, "Nah, too busy searching around the region for them orbs, think I pinpointed them, Mt. Pyre."

Shelly smiled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Good. We better collect them soon."

Matt pushed himself away from the desk, his computer work finished as well. The wheeled chair he sat on creaked under his massive frame. "Better get them now then, before the true plan comes into play."

"Bring Zinnia with you. Treat her like any other grunt." Shelly smirked, "The poor girl doesn't know that we know of her true colours."

Matt laughed, "And you head to Meteor Falls, we need that meteorite."

"Already on it."

Matt stood up, the chair he was sitting on slid across the floor. A loud ringing noise reverberated throughout the room, catching both of the Aqua Admin's attention. Shelly frowned slightly at the name appearing on the large screen against the wall. She quickly accepted the call and stood up herself in a proper fashion.

The man on the screen stared down at them harshly, "What are you two idiots doing?" He spat in an angry, yet calm tone. Both Shelly and Matt refused to even consider being scared of the man. Aqua had the most grunts at their command, this man was nothing compared to them, his team was nothing compared to theirs. All this man had was the fear he embedded into the team leaders, like he had embedded into Archie and Maxie. Shelly and Matt had no fear of him, they were confident in their abilities, the abilities in their organization.

"Just finalizing plans sir. We have finished and have set the date for the twenty-fourth of July, two months from now." Shelly replied, her voice steady, her eyes never once leaving contact with the man's.

"I understand that it is two months from now Shelly, you needn't say that." He stared at her, barely blinking. "Where is your leader?"

"Currently he is out gathering materials. He will be returning shortly, if it is to your wish sir, I can get Leader Archie to contact you upon his return."

The man nodded once, "Very well, he has one hour to contact me."

The screen went black.

Shelly waited for a moment then threw the chair closest to her to the ground in anger, letting out a frustrated noise. She turned to Matt, her face livid. "Go and get that orb _now_."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **May 4th, 2006**

Dawn smiled as she took in her surroundings, the fresh salty air and humid weather was a nice comparison to her own home region. It was refreshing, a good start to a brand new journey. Just from her quick look at Slateport City, Dawn was very excited to set off for her new journey, even if it was later in the competing season. Dawn looked down at her Piplup who was being held in her arms, she smiled fondly at him.

"You excited Piplup?"

"Pip Piplup!" Piplup agreed, grinning the way piplups did.

Dawn began her trek through the city, trying to find a Pokémon Center. The Nurse Joy there would know where the next contest was going to be held. "The Grand Festival will be held here. I have a feeling that this journey will be the most exciting yet; we came so close in Sinnoh that I know we'll win this one for sure. We've trained so hard and we'll definitely win."

"Lup!"

Slateport was a big city; Dawn found that was easy to get lost in the many wonders about it. She had waked in the complete opposite direction on the Pokémon Center, making her way down to the city market and the beach. She didn't regret her mistake, it was fun to look at the various shops and feel the hot white sand between her toes.

She had found the Pokémon Center and walked through the sliding glass front doors, smiling as she recognised the homey and cozy vibes that the centers emitted. There were trainers with their pokémon everywhere, grooming, playing or relaxing, doing whatever they would in their own place of residence. She made her way up to the front desk clearing her throat slightly. "Excuse me?"

The Nurse Joy turned around and smiled pleasantly, "Hello! Welcome to the Slateport City Pokémon Center! How may I help you?"

"I would like to sign up as a coordinator."

Nurse Joy nodded, "Oh yes, just a moment." She tapped away on a little computer before pointing to a screen, "Just place some sort of trainer identification there please, trainer card or pokédex would work."

Dawn nodded and pulled out her card from her pocket, placing it on the screen. There was a ding, confirming her as a valid trainer. "There you are! You're all set to compete for this year's Grand Festival. It will be held here in Slateport City!" Dawn nodded, already knowing that information but didn't want to seem rude.

"Do you happen to know where the next contest is going to be held?"

"The next contest is going to be in LaRousse City." A voice answered. Dawn looked behind her and noticed a familiar looking girl standing there; she had brown hair and friendly blue eyes. "Oh! Hi Dawn, I didn't recognise you from behind."

"May?" Dawn asked.

May nodded, "Yeah, it's me; I understand why you're a bit confused; I do look different than I did two years ago, more womanly. Though you're the same, not the little thirteen year-old I remember." Dawn laughed and nodded in agreement, now Dawn was sixteen, and May being a year older was seventeen. May was very pretty, Dawn noticed, though she had always though she was. She still had the slight tomboyish air around her and the all over friendly personality that she remembered. "You know, how about I get my friend to let you stay with us at his house?" May suggested, "He lives in LaRousse, pretty close to the contest hall too. He'll let you stay."

Dawn suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "Are you sure that that's okay?" She asked.

May nodded. "Oh yeah, definitely, don't worry about it, I can call him right now."

Dawn was a little hesitant but agreed, "Alright, if you say it's okay."

May smiled. "Let's go give him a call then. He's home right now, probably waiting for me to arrive soon. I accidentally slept in today." She laughed lightly. "He's probably wondering why I'm not there yet."

May led the way to the Center's video phones, May typed in a number that was obviously very familiar to her and hit the call button, waiting for the other person to pick up. "Drew is my rival of sorts; we met when I was eleven. I was scared of pokémon before so that's why I started being a trainer later."

Dawn nodded, in Sinnoh it was common knowledge that they had the trainer age set higher, at twelve years old unlike the Kanto regions age of ten. Most regions the age was ten, Sinnoh's was set the highest out of them all. The ringing noise stopped catching both girls' attention.

"May? " There was a guy on the screen who had a head of green hair, it reminded Dawn of Cilan slightly; another companion of Ash's that she met on her brief trip to Unova. The guy's expression changed, "Did you forget to buy a ticket?" He asked.

"No!" May said defensively, "I ran into Dawn, someone who I met through Ash while I competed in the Wallace cup in Sinnoh. She's a coordinator just like us and she wanted to compete in the LaRousse contest, so I was wondering if it was okay if she stayed with us at your place?"

Drew nodded. "Sure, I don't really care." He shrugged.

May smiled and clasped her hands together. "Great! We'll be there soon!"

Drew nodded again. "Alright, bye." The screen went black as he hung up.

May swivelled around in the chair and smiled. "See, I told you're he would let you stay. He's much less moody and obnoxious than he was when he was younger. The only thing that's kind of the same is that he always gives my Beautifly roses sometimes. I don't really understand why." She shrugged and stood up. "Okay, let's go to the harbour and get some tickets."

"I thought you said you already had yours?"

May grinned. "No, you get the tickets at the port. Drew forgot about that part." She adjusted the strings on her bag to be more comfortable before setting off to the door. Dawn followed after her.

The two girls easily bought tickets and boarded the boat. May had suggested that they sat outside of the ship, so they could enjoy the breeze. Together the two sat down and May decided to start up a conversation. "Have you seen Ash in a while?"

Dawn nodded; she had seen him very recently in fact. "Yeah, I saw him a few months ago actually, he was getting ready for the Vertress Conference in Unova. He had two nice traveling partners named Iris and Cilan."

May nodded, "What we're they like? I haven't seen them at all; I have talked to Ash a bit, though just through the new messaging system in the pokégears and pokénavs."

Dawn nodded, understanding. She had bought a pokégear herself, so she could easily contact her mother while she was away, but it also proved to be beneficial for her to talk with her other friends, ones back home and ones off traveling, like Ash, Brock, Kenny and Zoey, and even the entertaining, yet annoying Barry. "They're nice," She repeated. "Iris is a bit like Ash in a way. She always calls him a little kid though; I think he said that he's a few months older than her; Iris wants to become a Dragon Master. Cilan is like Brock, the older parental figure. He's a pokémon connoisseur and one of the three gym leaders of Straiton City."

"Three gym leaders?"

Dawn nodded, "Him and his two brothers, they're triplets."

"Oh!" May exclaimed. "I think I know who you're talking about. Do they do those triple battles? We have a set of twin gym leaders and they do a two on two battle with the challenger."

Dawn shook her head, "No, if you chose one of the starters from the region's professor, the gym leader you would fight would have an advantage over you. They each specialize in fire, grass or water. I don't know how it works if you don't have one of the starters though. Ash had all three but I think he said he got the water type first so he battled Cilan."

"What's Unova like?"

Dawn thought for a moment. "It's big, it's really industrialized. I didn't see every city in it; I only visited Nimbasa to see the amusement park and their pokémon musicals. I also saw the city's gym leader's fashion show. I went to Undella Town too, I met up with our region's champion and she let me stay in her beach house while she traveled to Virbank City for something. There she met Ash and his friends and brought them back to the villa with her, Ash had just gotten his eighth badge when they met." She explained, "He found a pokémon on his way over, a legendary named Meloetta."

"Another legendary?" May asked, "I swear there's something strange about Ash, he always gets caught up with them for some reason."

Dawn nodded. "He does. Team Rocket tried to take Meloetta; they've become more vicious than from what I remember in Sinnoh, they seem more evil."

"You mean Jessie, James and Meowth right?" Dawn nodded again. "Them be more evil?" May trailed off a bit, "How old would they be by now?"

Dawn shrugged, "I always thought of them being a bit older than Brock so they might be around twenty-five or twenty-six."

May started to count off of her fingers, "Brock's twenty-two right?"

Dawn narrowed her eyes in thought and nodded, "Yeah, his birthday was in April."

"Oh!" May faced Dawn, "Ash's birthday is this month! We should send something to his mom so he can get it once he gets home."

"I think that would be nice to do." Dawn agreed.

The two sat in silence for a while, watching the island of LaRousse City come into view. From her view on the boat, Dawn could tell that LaRousse was very high tech and industrialized, reminding her of Unova. There were large glass and metal buildings peeking through the skyline, there was also a large bridge over it; connecting the island to the two big landmasses it was in-between. Dawn could see the various wind turbines to one side of the island, there were many. She could see little things flying around the city, looking like little black dots in the sky. "Make sure you smile once we enter the city. A robot will take your picture and give you a visitor identification card so you can use different things inside the city. I learned that the hard way. The first time I came here the Block Bots took an awful picture of me." Dawn nodded and the two girls made their way off the ship, as it had now began letting people off since it had docked in.

Dawn put on a smile once she had successfully gotten off of the boat, she could see May, and other people smiling too, the others were probably doing it for the same region. A square robot flew into her face and snapped a picture, a card instantly sliding out of a slot. "Hello and welcome to LaRousse City!" After its brief announcement it flew off to go to another person. Dawn looked down at the card, thankful that the picture wasn't too bad.

"Thank Arceus..." She heard May mutter as she put her own card into her pocket. Grabbing Dawn's wrist, she pulled her out of the busy port and out into a street. "We have to get on a few of these; they use these sidewalks as their main transportation here." She pulled Dawn onto a specific one and let go of her wrist. "Drew actually lives very close to the pier and the contest hall isn't very far away either. I'm glad he lives here so I don't have to worry about living arrangements. LaRousse holds the Battle Tower which is open all year long so many trainers stay here to level up their pokémon for a while and usually the Pokémon Centers are full because of them." They hopped onto another sidewalk, "Also beware of Drew, he'll try and get you to be one of his annoying fan girls. So what if he won a grand festival before me."

"He's won a grand festival?"

May grumbled, "Yeah, two years ago he entered our contest circuit and won the Grand Festival. If I don't win this year I'm thinking of going back to Johto."

"We'll I'm not going to lose to you!" Dawn announced, "I've been training really hard since Sinnoh, and I got runner-up then. I'm going to win here for sure!"

"We'll see about that."

May pulled Dawn off onto a regular side walk and led her to a big apartment building, going inside and up an elevator. It stopped on the sixth floor; there were many more stories above them. May led the way down a long hallway and pushed open a door, not bothering with knocking. There was a man sitting on the couch, he looked over once he heard the door open. He had a small smile.

"Hello."

May returned the smile, "Hi! I told you we would make it, you should trust me more."

Drew stared at her, "You do realize that you're asking for the impossible right?"

May scowled and walked further into the apartment. "I'm going to eat your food."

"Don't eat all of it." He said. Drew looked behind May and waved to Dawn, "Hello."

"Hi." Dawn replied rather shyly, Drew was giving her an analytical look, "I've met you before."

Dawn frowned; she didn't seem to recognise the coordinator. Then again, she didn't recognise May so Dawn didn't really doubt that she had met him another time. His eyes suddenly brightened, "We met at the Johto Wallace Cup."

Dawn thought for a moment, the memory slowly forming in her mind again. "I think we did. You won it right?"

Drew nodded, "I did."

May appeared from the kitchen, a sandwich in her hand. "If you're hungry Dawn, just go and eat whatever you want. Drew won't mind."

Dawn quickly shook her head, "No I'm okay."

"I'm going to have to buy groceries because of you."

May shrugged, "I don't care, buy good stuff like cookies."

"I'd rather not eat things that give me all my daily fat in one bite."

"I feel bad for your future wife and children. All you eat is veggies, gross."

"I don't poison my body with sugars."

"You're not any fun." May retorted, taking another bite of her sandwich. "You eat sweets right Dawn?" May moved over slightly and patted the spot beside her.

Dawn walked over and sat next to her. "I do."

"See, any normal person eats sweets."

"I'm not buying them."

May let out frustrated noise and fell back into the couch, "You're no fun."

"You already said that and I'm okay with not being fun."

Drew leaned forward a bit, so he could see both girls. "Do you know what pokémon you'll be using?"

Dawn nodded quickly, "Yep, I know exactly who!"

"So do I!" May exclaimed, "I'm not going to lose to you Dawn, I want to get my fifth ribbon!"

"I already got mine a few years ago." Drew said smugly, May glared at him.

Dawn smiled kindly at her opponent, one that May quickly replied with her own. The two had made it to the final round of the LaRousse Pokémon Contest. In the first round Dawn had concluded to go for her electric chandelier routine, as this was a double contest.

"And the timer starts now!" Vivian cheered.

"Piplup and Buneary spotlight!" Dawn shouted and threw her pokéballs into the air. Bringing her seals with her to Hoenn, both of her Pokémon appeared with swirling golden stars around them.

"Pip!"

"Neary!"

May chuckled. "Venusaur, Beautifly!" She called gracefully releasing her Pokémon. "Venusaur Petal Dance on Piplup! Beautifly, Aerial Ace on Buneary!"

"Both of you dodge it then use Dizzy Punch and Drill Peck!"

Buneary and Piplup jumped out of the range of its opponents attacks. Piplup's beak shone a bright white colour. He jumped into the air and started to rapidly spin. It headed into the direction of Venusaur, hitting it in the side. Venusaur cried and let out another Petal Dance as instructed by May.

"Bun, bun!" Buneary called as she hit Beautifly with her multi-coloured ears.

May frowned, already losing some of her points. Dawn had also lost some with Venusaur's super effective move against Piplup.

"Piplup and Buneary move back then use Whirlpool and Ice Beam!"

Piplup and Buneary jumped back, Piplup raised its arms over its head and started to conjure up a giant whirlpool.

"Now's our chance! Venusaur, use Poison Powder, Beautifly Silver Wind!" She sprayed purple dust out of the big flower on her back while Beautifly flapped its wings, sending crescent shaped cyclones at the, leading it to Piplup and Buneary, hitting them straight on, knocking both of Dawn's pokémon flying backwards, also releasing the giant Whirlpool that Piplup had been creating, crashing down in the direction of May and her pokémon. "Quickly, Venusaur use Razor Leaf!" Green leaves flew from Venusaur, cutting through the big swirling rush of water and sending it splashing all over the battle field.

Dawn glanced up at the clock, thirty-seven seconds left. She quickly glanced at her points as well that were slowly decreasing as she watched. Dawn whipped her head around seeing May's pokémon attacking hers while they were paralyzed with poison. Dawn gasped, "Piplup use Bubblebeam on you and Buneary!" Dawn was pleading that the water would aid them in some way, especially Piplup. Piplup winced at one of Beautifly's attacks then the buzzer went off, announcing the battle over. The two Coordinators whipped around and stared at the score board. Looking at both sides, May had more than her. Dawn already knew what the outcome would be, it wasn't hard to tell when competing against such an experienced coordinator.

"The winner of the LaRousse Contest is May Maple from Petalburg City!" Vivian shouted.

Dawn walked up to her Pokémon and patted each of their heads, "Good job you two!" She hugged them, "I'll send you to the Pokémon Center to be all healed up! Then you can have all the poffins you want!" She returned each to their pokéballs and stood up. She made her way over to May and held out her hand, "Good job! You were a tough opponent and you deserve that ribbon!" She laughed lightly.

May shook her hand saying cheerily, "Thanks!" before being ushered away by Vivian to get her ribbon.

Dawn was a little upset that show lost, but her happiness for her friend overwhelmed that. Right now the three were watching a movie. May had gone out and bought popcorn since Drew didn't have any.

There was a loud ringing noise and May stood up groaning. "Sorry." She muttered and left the room.

Dawn watched as her friend left. "It's probably Max." Drew spoke up, briefly looking over at her from the corner if his eye. "Max usually calls her whenever their father has a new challenger. He's a gym leader."

"Gym leader?" Dawn asked. She recalled being told that, but never really thought about it.

Drew nodded, "Yeah, he specialises in normal types. I think her dad wants her to take over soon, but May would to win a Grand Festival before thinking of taking it over, she a coordinator before a league trainer. Max always calls her when a new challanger comes."

"If she does win a Grand Festival, do you think she'll become the new gym leader?"

Drew thought for a moment. "I think she would for a few years, then Max would take over soon after."

"How old is Max?"

"Uh, twelve I think. Right now he's taking a year off of traveling and is just training."

May appeared again, "I'm going to head back home; you two can come if you want. Apparently some really strong trainer is coming to challenge my dad. According to Max he's pretty popular too, but I've never heard of him before.

Drew gave her a look, "What's their name?"

May frowned, "I think Max said it was Paul Rebel... Rebel... something, I don't remember." She shrugged, "Actually Dawn, you might know. Max said that he remembered Ash battling him in the Lily of the Valley Conference."

Dawn felt herself tense up slightly, "I do know of a Paul, Ash had a rival named Paul, but I don't know his last name. I'll come with you, it would be nice to see him again, if he even remembers me, he barely remembered who I was while we met journeying."

"I'm coming too." Drew added, "Let me go and get my stuff."

"Shouldn't you tell your parents first?" May said.

Drew gave her a harsh look. Dawn didn't recall seeing any adults enter or leave the apartment while she was staying there with May. "I'm not speaking to them." He said in monotone.

May nodded slightly as he disappeared from their sight, "Right..." Dawn didn't bother to question them about it despite her curiosity.

"Let's go." Drew said, still having the same tone as before.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **May 6th, 2006**

Dawn sat next to May on a small bench. All of them had made it to Petalburg successfully. May's parents and brother were overjoyed to see that both Dawn and Drew had accompanied her back to their home, the more the merrier, according to Norman. Caroline was dotting to both trainers needs and making sure that they had gotten the best out of their stay at their home, doing things such as giving them extra blankets and fluffing their pillows or making sure that they were fed to their fill, simple loving mother duties that Caroline said that were no problem at all and nowhere near tiring, it didn't sound the same when Dawn's own mother said stuff like that. Dawn helped Caroline whenever she could, mostly because she was told to help out at home and since Caroline reminded her so much of her mother, she had to help, and Dawn quite enjoyed that they were very similar.

Dawn shifted in her seat. It had been two days since Max's call and today was the day that Paul had requested his battle to be. She was excited to see him, hoping that he had not forgotten her like she was expecting. Dawn would without a doubt meet anyone from her first journey again, even if it was Ursula or Conway or even Jessie and James along with Meowth. The only people she kept a strong connection with was Ash and Brock who checked in on her a lot, both still took on the older brother role, and with Barry and Kenny who lived in the same town as her. It saddened Dawn that she had barely seen Zoey, but it was kind of expected since she lived on the other side of Sinnoh, in cold weather at that. Norman was standing on his side of the battle field, busily talking to his son who had volunteered to be the referee for the gym battle.

The two doors swung open, lighting the traditional Japanese styled room a little better. Little flecks of dust were illuminated in the light and danced through the air. A tall man walked into the room, he had a scowl on his face, one that he always had, Dawn barely had any memories of him smiling. Just by looking at him she could tell that he was about a head taller than his brother, maybe a little less. His hair was still long as it was before, yet his face changed slightly, it was more mature looking now, but it always had been it was just more adult looking. Max rushed to the little podium at the side of the field once he caught sight of the mauve haired trainer.

Paul walked over to his side across from Norman who smiled kindly at him. "You're Paul Robelldo, correct?"

"Yes." Paul said.

Norman nodded. "Great! Before we start, I hope you don't mind that my daughter and her two friends watch our battle. They were excited to know that you were coming to challenge me." He raised his hand and gestured to the three.

Paul turned his steely gaze onto them. His eyes quickly flicked past May and Drew, not caring that they were there. Though, once he saw the third person sitting there. He started them down, his eyes locked with hers.

Dawn felt herself shrink back slightly, but she righted herself and didn't take her eyes away from his.

His stare turned into a slight glare and he turned back to Norman. "Whatever, I don't care." He stated, "Can we just start this?"

Norman nodded, "Yes of course." He looked at his son who was fidgeting slightly on the small podium. Max instantly stopped moving once he caught his father's eyes and raised a hand into the air.

"This will be a two on two match between Gym Leader Norman and challenger Paul Robelldo of Veilstone city. Only the challenger will get substitutions, the winner will be declared once all pokémon on one side have fainted. Battle begin!"

"Hariyama!" Paul called without hesitation, knowing very well that Norman was a normal type gym leader. Hariyama would be the perfect pokémon choice, not only because of it's trying but because of its great defence and brute strength.

Norman smiled, "Ah a Hariyama. You sure know your stuff but my Pokémon are far more superior. Go Spinda!" Norman threw a pokeball and out popped said pokémon in a blinding flash of red light.

"A Spinda? Pathetic, Hariyama Focus Punch." Hariyama rushed forward, its fist being engulfed by a blinding bright white light. The Spinda was teetering from side to side with no clear way of where it was going.

"Teeter Dance!" A white aura outlined the Pokémon. It started to lean from side to side more, looking like it would fall over any second. Dawn shifted her position; she froze when she saw Paul glance quickly in her direction then back at the battle. She let out a small sigh of relief once he focused on his battle again. She was unsure as to why she felt nervous when he looked at her.

"Focus Punch again." He said calmly. Hariyama raced forward, its hand pulled back, ready to strike. In a matter of seconds Spinda went in a completely different direction then it did before. Hariyama let out a frustrated noise and followed Spinda around. Though thanks to the Teeter Dance, Spinda was moving around randomly, confusing the burly fighting type.

"Dizzy Punch!" Norman called.

Spinda danced around for a bit with a shining fist before finally hitting Hariyama right in the stomach. The much bigger Pokémon barely moved other than leaning back a little. Of course, Dizzy Punch was a normal type move and didn't cause as much damage to the bulky fighting type.

"Focus Punch once more." At this close range, and the Teeter Dance starting to wear off, Hariyama finally landed its first blow onto the normal type, sending it flying backwards. Dawn leaned forwards slightly, once again Paul glanced over in her direction. "Arm thrust." Paul grumbled. Hariyama's arms had a glowing white aura around them. It raced forward and repeatedly hit the Spinda. After just a few hits, the normal type was knocked out.

"Good job!" Norman chuckled, "You did well Spinda, return!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out another pokéball, "Alright Go Slacking!" A giant sloth like Pokémon appeared. It was lying on its side and let out a tired sigh. "Slacking, Yawn!" Slacking parted its jaws wide and yawned, letting a pink bubble fly out of its mouth and race towards Hariyama.

"Dodge, then use Force Palm." Paul sighed. Hariyama stretched an arm out; a blue orb appeared in front of it. Haryiama raced forward, the bubble floating in his direction. "Haryiama I said dodge!" Paul shouted angrily. Haryiama froze, it turned around at glanced at Paul, a bewildered look on its face. Paul closed his eyes and reached into his pocket. Dawn stared at him, her mouth agape. There was a loud thud heard, followed by a snore. Paul pulled out the pokéball and returned the pokémon without a second chance. "Pathetic." He grumbled and pulled out a different pokéball, "You better not disappoint me too, Electivire." He threw the pokéball into the air and the said pokémon came out, letting out a terrifying loud cry. Piplup, who was quietly playing with May's Glaceon and Drew's Roserade, quickly looked in the direction of the battle at the sound of the electric type's cry, a startled look placed upon its round face. Piplup stopped its paying, recognising Paul and his Electivire immediately. "Brick Break then use Thunder Punch." Paul said.

"Vire!" Electivire shouted and raced forward, aiming for the lazy normal type. Sparks shooting from both hands, Electivire chopped Slacking's shoulder causing it to lose its balance slightly. Electivire swung its other arm around and hit Slaking right in the stomach, "Once more!" Paul shouted with a little more enthusiasm than normal.

Dawn raised a curious eyebrow at him. "Paul excited? Impossible." She whispered. This caused Paul to glance over in her direction once more. She took a sharp breath in and waited. She was lucky that he wanted to see the outcome of this battle. Electivire rammed its fists into the normal type's stomach repeatedly, ending the quick battle.

"Good job Slaking return." Norman said. He placed the pokéball back into his pocket. "Congratulations Paul," He smiled and once again, Max scurried up, but this time, carrying a case. He handed it to his father and smiled. Norman walked up to Paul and opened the case to him, "This is the Basic Badge. Now you're closer to entering the Ever Grande Conference."

Paul took the badge and turned around. "Thanks." He huffed then left the gym without another word.

Dawn waited a few moments, unsure if she should act on her idea or not, deciding she then sprung up from the bench. "I'll be right back guys, promise!" She smiled and followed after the violet haired trainer. Piplup noticed it's trainers departure and raced after her, abandoning Glaceon and Roserade.

May glanced at Drew, "Maybe we should follow her just in case..."

Drew thought for a moment and nodded, "I don't trust her to be by herself with him, even if they knew each other before." Drew shrugged, "I don't know why but that's how I feel."

Dawn looked around and spotted him pass by a pair of twins who were playing happily with their small pokémon. She raced down the dirt path in order to catch up to him. "Paul!" She shouted. The man stiffened and picked up his pace, obviously not wanting to be seen by whoever was calling him though he did suspect who it was, he didn't bother looking behind him, not interested in the girl at all. "Paul, wait up!"

He defiantly knew who this was. Even if they haven't seen each other in four years, how could you forget that annoying voice? Paul stopped the other thoughts and memories of the annoying blue haired girl and clenched his hand into a fist.

"Paul, finally you stopped." Dawn huffed from behind him. He cautiously turned around and looked her up and down; she had changed a lot since he had last seen her, obviously. She was taller and had filled out. Her hair had changed too, her bangs had grown out a bit and were sort of swept to one side, her eyes shimmered as she stared up at him; he scowled at that.

"Do I know you?"

Dawn scrunched her face up and crossed her arms, glaring at the older trainer something she did a lot two years ago and clearly still did. "Of course you do! It's me Dawn!" She took a calming breath and sighed. She stared at him awaiting an answer. Paul looked her up and down for a moment. She felt herself tense up slightly under his intense stare.

"I don't remember you." He stated in a bored tine.

Dawn slapped a hand over her face and sighed, "What was the point of even coming out here to watch your battle? I thought it would be nice to see you after four years, and even after I went through the trouble of getting here from LaRousse in a matter of days just to surprise you!" She glared at him.

"Surprise me?" Paul stared down at her, she almost reached his shoulders and it physically hurt him to have to look down so far just to make eye contact. "I think it's hard to surprise someone who doesn't even know you."

She huffed and her cheeks puffed out slightly, making her look more like she did as a twelve year old. "You must be an idiot if you've forgotten me." Dawn stated as a matter of factly. "We've met countless times back in Sinnoh; your biggest rival was my best friend who I was always with. The guy you lost to in the quarter finals in the Lily of the Valley Conference. You actually had a proper and civil conversation with me before your battle started. If you have actually forgotten me then you are without a doubt a moron."

Paul raised his eyebrows slightly before frowning at her. "I really hate prissy people like you. I can't stand your uptight, overbearing personality. I'd rather not develop a neck problem looking down at you so I'm going to leave; I'd rather throw myself in the volcano than deal with you."

Dawn stared at him in utter disbelief, "You know what, just to spite you, I'm going to travel with you. Lead the way." She waved her hand and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"Dawn!" The said trainer looked over her shoulder and saw May and Drew hurrying after her.

"Hi!" Dawn said, her cheerfulness quickly returning. "I'll be traveling with Paul now, to catch up with him and stuff, plus I checked and saw that the next contest is in Verdanturf Town." She smiled with a shrug.

"I'm coming with you." May stated. "I'm not letting you travel with Paul by yourself."

"I'm not either." Drew added. "Plus May and I know the region well and we can help you two get through it quickly."

Dawn looked behind her and noticed that Paul had already walked quite a distance away, she let out an annoyed grumble. "We better hurry then, he's not one that travels with people a lot. He's not a very friendly person in general."

The three made a dash, mostly Dawn, to catch up with Paul. "My friends May and Drew are coming too, just so you know."

Paul glanced at her. "I don't want any of you coming."

After walking for a while, Dawn couldn't deal with the silence. The only time she heard people talking was when May and Drew argued over something and Paul yelling at them to shut up, she had no idea what the two were arguing over. She cleared her throat and decided to pick up a conversation. "So Paul, how many badges do you have?" She had lost her anger towards him and spoke in a regular tone.

"Five."

Dawn frowned, "Wow, I just arrived in Hoenn this week, I guess I came a little late." She laughed a little. "May just won her fifth ribbon and can now enter in the Grand Festival, where I don't even have one." She gave a pointed look at May who simply gave her a smug grin. "Anyway where are we going to next?"

"Fortree City, but that doesn't concern you. You're not coming."

"I am coming, you can't make me leave."

"The leader's name is Winona." May said from behind, ignoring the rest of Paul's sentence. "She's a flying type gym leader, though Fortree is pretty far from here. Right now we're on Route 104, so the fastest route would be to go through Petalburg Woods, Rustboro City, through the Rusturf Tunnel, then pass through Verdanturf and Mauville City."

"I already know that." Paul stated, glaring over at May. "I've traveled through Hoenn before." May glared right back at him.

"Wow." Dawn sighed. "Guess we're going to be training and traveling most of the time huh Piplup?" She asked her partner who she had released from his pokéball a while ago and was holding in her arms. "That's okay; we definitely need to win in Verdanturf!"

"There's also one in Mauville." Drew answered this time. "There are about twelve contest halls throughout Hoenn which hold a contest every so often. They try not to double book any on the same day but usually in the same week or so." He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a paper. "Here's a list of all the contests," He passed it over to Dawn. "You can check and see which contest is when."

She scanned the list. There was a map within the paper that had twelve red dots on them, indicating the various contest halls and their dates for the contests right next to them. "Alright I'm ready! We're gonna do our best, right Piplup?"

"Pip piplup!" He agreed.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **May 7th, 2006**

Dawn was busy pulling her tent down from the previous night. They had stayed in the Petalburg forest and should be almost through by now. Just another day or so of traveling then they would hopefully be out or the dark and gloomy place. Many trainers had asked to battle, Paul only accepted ones that he thought were strong enough to help his get stronger. Of course he wiped the floor with them, much to May's displeasure. On the other hand, the other three took turns in battling the trainers, helping improve their own pokémon's skills.

"Good morning..." She heard a sleepy voice and she glanced behind her, smiling at the sleepy brunette standing there still clad in her pyjamas.

"Morning May, sorry if I woke you." She replied sheepishly, placing a hand behind her head, one of the habits that she had caught from Ash in their travels and still continued to have now. May was the last one to wake up. Paul was up at the crack of dawn, Drew not too long after, or so he says.

"Drew made some toast, using Paul's Magmotar, and bread he might have more though it's probably cold."

May laughed, "I'm okay, I'm actually not hungry right now. Did Paul really let Drew use his Magmortar to make toast?"

Dawn snickered and shook her head, what Paul didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "May not hungry is impossible." Drew spoke as he walked up from behind the two girls. Grabbing a hold of a metal pole from Dawn's tent and taking it apart. "There's a berry tree nearby. We can get some before we leave. We're close to Rustbouro City anyway and with the speed Paul's going we should get there soon."

Dawn grabbed a hold of a pole herself, taking it apart, and shoving it in her bag. "What's your hometown like Dawn?" May suddenly asked.

Dawn placed a finger on her chin, scrunching her nose up in thought. "Um, I think Ash said it was similar to Pallet Town, have you been there before?"

"Yep! That's where I got my Wartortle! I met him when we went to go and visit Professor Oak!"

Dawn nodded, "Yeah Twinleaf is a small town, I think it's bigger then Pallet but I'm not sure. I have a couple friends that live there named Kenny and Barry. Kenny's a coordinator like me and Barry is a league challenger like Paul, he's pretty strong too."

"Strong? You must have low standards then." Dawn looked behind her and noticed Paul standing there. "You done packing? I want to hurry up and go." He glanced between the three, "Wake up earlier tomorrow or I'm leaving." He added, "I don't have time to waste." It was a surprise that Paul had even put it into himself to stay at their small campground while the other slept, only disappearing with one pokémon to train while he let his others eat and wake up more.

Dawn huffed, "Sleep in for a bit, give yourself a day to relax or something, you'll feel good after it."

"And maybe be less cranky." May muttered, "You need it."

"Sleeping in is for those lazy people who don't care about reaching their goals and becoming stronger. Like Ash, he still hasn't won a single league; he's becoming famous for it. I'd rather not be humiliated like him."

"Hey didn't he beat you is the Lily of the Valley Conference? I'd say that's pathetic, whining about somebody who's stronger then you, you never said anything about winning a league yourself, what makes you all high and mighty?" May stood up and poked her finger into his chest, "You're going to be famous for the same reason, at least Ash understands people feelings and is nice, people will like him much more than you." She glared up at him.

"And what have you done? Have you won any of those stupid Grand Festivals yet? I doubt it, it's a surprise that that red-headed girl even won Sinnoh's two years ago, if anybody it should've been Nando, who is also a League Trainer and actually knows what they need to have for a semi-strong pokémon team not some lazy over pampered bratty pokémon like that one right there!" He pointed directly at Piplup who was having an innocent conversation with Drew's Roserade and May's Glaceon, the three had become very good friend in the short time that they had known each other.

"Hey! Piplup is plenty strong and I was the runner up for the same Grand Festival that Zoey won! It was also my first year competing in Sinnoh anyway; I think that I did extremely well for being a beginner! And how would you even know that Zoey won it? Were you watching it or something, I thought it didn't concern you and that coordinating shouldn't even exist?" Dawn hissed at him, "Here we are trying to be nice to you and actually want to get to know you, and you have been nothing but mean and arrogant this whole time. Why are you like this? Why be mean to people who are actually putting in an effort to get to know you?"

Paul glared at her, "I didn't ask you to come with me. I don't want three lazy and weak coordinators following me around. I don't want to listen to your constant whining and I don't want to be your friends." He said in a scarily calm tone. "Don't bother following me. I'm surprised that I even let you three follow me for this long." He cast his glare over the three of them one last time before turning and leaving.

"Why is he so rude?" Dawn grabbed the ends of her hair and pulled on them, "Why did I even want to be friends with somebody as inconsiderate as he is? Strength and winning is all that he talks about, he isolates himself from everybody, how does Reggie handle him?"

May and Drew looked at each other, "Who's Reggie?"

"Doesn't matter right now, I gotta go and find Paul."

"You said all those things about him yet you still go and try? Why do this to yourself? You will only get hurt some way or another from him, it's not worth it." May said.

Dawn pulled her hat over her head, not bothering with putting her hair up in a ponytail like she usually did now that it was so long. "You and May get along now right? I thought you argued a lot too? I want to act like you two but with Paul, I want to make sure he has at least one person to fall back on when he needs them, his brother can't be the only one he likes." She snatched up her bag, "Come on Piplup, it's time to go." Piplup gazed at Dawn for a moment longer then nodded and sighed turning to Glaceon and Roserade, waving his flipper before scurrying over to his trainer.

"Reggie must be his brother." She heard May whisper. "Wonder what he's like?"

"Are you two coming or what?" Dawn didn't need to wait for the answer; she already knew that they had their own bags ready to leave too.

* * *

 **May 10th, 2006**

"I challenge you to a battle!"

The group of four whipped their heads around and stared at a girl with blonde hair. She had a stubborn look on her face and was pointing directly at Drew, her hand then switched to Paul then May and finally Dawn. "Well at least one of you!" She declared. There was a loud sigh from beside Dawn.

"Really?" Paul said, " _Dawn_ could probably even beat you and that's saying something."

Dawn slapped him on the arm; he looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and glared. "The one time you actually say my name you use it like that!"

He ignored her and looked back at the brown haired girl. "It's a waste of our time, get lost."

"I'll battle you." Drew announced suddenly, not looking at anyone but the girl. "Is one on one fine?" The girl nodded eagerly and rushed to go and stand in a certain spot. He walked a reasonable distance away, "Whichever Pokémon faints first loses. She nodded once and reached to her jacket pocket, pulling out a black and yellow patterned pokéball.

"Go Shroomish!"

"Let's go Butterfree!" The Pokémon appeared in a flash of red light. "Quick Confusion!" Wasting no time, Butterfree's eyes glowed a light blue colour; soon Shroomish got outlined in the same blue light. Shroomish was slowly lifted into the air and went flying back towards its trainer. "Now quickly use Gust!" Butterfree furiously flapped its wings, strong gusts of wind coming from it. Shroomish was being pushed back once again.

The girl started to panic, "Come on Shroomish! Stun spore!" It was too late, Shroomish had already fainted. Drew calmly returned Butterfree and approached the trainer, holding his hand out for a shake. She grabbed it awkwardly, her Pokémon held in one arm. "Umm thanks, I hope Shroomish got some kind of experience from that." And with that she ran off towards Petalburg City.

"Pathetic." Paul murmured and continued along the path.

May frowned, "That's mean." She said and walked right up to him, "You could've been nicer." She jabbed him in the chest with her finger. "Try thinking of other's feelings, don't be so heartless." She glared harshly at him.

Drew quickly pulled May back, "Don't bother getting worked up. At least he had the audacity to say it once she was gone."

"If you don't like it too bad, I didn't ask for pathetic trainers like you to join me. You decided to so don't complain." He set his hard gaze onto May, one that May happily gave back to him.

"For your information we only came for Dawn's sake, honestly I don't trust Dawn just traveling around with a guy like you, regardless if you already know each other."

"I didn't ask her to come either. Leave if you're not happy, I couldn't care less about your wellbeing." And with that statement he left.

May let out a furious noise, "Dawn are you sure you want to travel with him?" This was the second time May had asked her this question and Dawn still had the same answer, not matter how much Paul infuriated her, she wasn't going to give up.

Dawn nodded, "Yes. I want to be friends with him." She replied simply. "I'm sure he'll be nicer once he gets to know us better too." She flashed the two a smile. "Just have faith in him. He's just like us." She turned around to follow the oldest person in the group.

May glanced at Drew who shrugged. "I take it back, Paul's more annoying than Ash, or least has more brains for a positive statement."

"When did you say that Ash was stupid?" May asked, both her and Dawn were staring at him intently. "Ash is smarter than you think."

"He's more of an on the go thinker, he plans better while he's doing things." Dawn added.

May placed a hand on her chin, "We still need to figure out what to get Ash for his birthday, how hard can it be to find him something?"

* * *

 **May 11th, 2006**

A loud, deep rumbling noise reached each of the group member's ears once again. It had been going on the whole day, and the day before too. "I am _so hungry_!" May said while clutching her stomach as it let out another groan of hunger.

"Of course you are," Paul said in scarily calm, but still harsh, tone. "Between you and your stupid Munchlax, you ate all of our food, yesterday. _We're all hungry_." He glanced over his shoulder and glared. "We haven't eaten for a day; you have, so shut up." He had been furious with the brunette and in all honesty he was barely in control of his anger, her recent complaining had just fuelled it even more.

May was too hungry to even care about what Paul had said. "Can we please just stop at a restaurant somewhere soon?"

Paul clutched the strap of his bag in frustration; they have already gone through this whole conversation _seven times_ since they left the Petalburg Forest. "I really don't care; you're buying all the food anyway. Now be quiet!" He hissed the last part to her. They walked down a few more streets of the big Rustboro City, hoping to find somewhere that could successfully fulfill their needs of food.

"Ugh, I'm-" Paul quickly grabbed May from the shoulders and pushed her across the street. "Go in there!" May instantly brightened up when she saw the small cafe and ran toward it. There was an audible sigh from behind, "I'm gonna take her to the bathroom. The thought of using a real toilet is much more pleasant than using a bush." Dawn sighed a second time and rubbed her temples, she looked very tired. "Find us a table okay?" She said gently as she turned her gaze between Paul and Drew.

Drew nodded once, "Sure." And with that Dawn was racing after the other coordinator. "I wonder how May and Dawn feel." He said, looking up at Paul, "Having another girl to travel with, I mean." He clarified, "Travelling with Ash and Brock, and in May's case, her little brother, must have been annoying at times. Ash is hyperactive, Brock has that women problem and Max is annoying with his constant observation of pokémon and the obnoxious 'I'm better than you' attitude he used to have." Drew pulled out the door for Paul. "Yet they still all ended up being best friends." Taking a short break from their conversation to find a reasonable seat where Dawn and May could find them easily, deciding on a spot relatively close to the bathroom, Drew picked up the conversation again, "Also sorry for May, I know she's pretty much a female version of Ash, but Arceus had a second chance," Paul slightly smirked at this remark, "Think of May as a better version of Ash, and after the three years I've known her, the only thing worse is her eating, really she's not that bad. I found her really annoying at first too."

Paul shrugged, "I'll admit, she is better than him, hardly though, just more tolerable. I'd like her better if she didn't eat all of our food and we had to go hungry up until soon." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Woah!" A loud voice shouted, the two turned to where the voice had come from and Paul instantly pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Really? Don't look or talk to him when he gets here." Paul said, staring sternly at Drew, "Do not." The green haired coordinator furrowed his brows in confusion but nodded his head anyway. Drew didn't bother to question Paul's motive, Paul was a different person. Then again, pretty much everybody Drew has ever met was considered different. Especially another purple haired man he knew.

"Hey Paul!" The voice said. Paul ignored him, seeming to be too interested in his menu to notice him; the guy rolled his dark eyes and pulled it from his hands, "I know you already saw me, no point in trying to ignore me. So why are you in Hoenn? Are you challenging the gyms here?"

Paul turned his head and glared at the guy, "Why else would I be here?" He said coolly.

"Looks like were rivals then!" He grinned, "I decided to change it up a bit you know? Challenge the league instead of entering contests..." He trailed off as he caught eye of Drew. "Hey I recognise you!" He pointed to Drew, "You're the guy who won the Johto Grand Festival! Wasn't DeeDee in that one?" Drew glanced at Paul, who seemed to be angrier now then he's ever seen him with Dawn or May.

He frowned, remembering what the brown haired boy had said, "Who's DeeDee?" Drew asked.

"What a stupid name." Paul commented.

Kenny's cheeks flared pink in anger. "Hey! It's not stupid!"

"Oh yes it is!" Dawn said as she walked up to them with crossed arms and a frown plastered on her face, "Will you just drop that nickname Kenny, please? It's old and annoying." She had never liked the nickname and still didn't. May who was behind Dawn, still clutching her stomach, grabbed a menu and started to walk over to the counter, to obviously order their food.

"Not even surprised that I'm here?" Kenny asked, feigning a hurt look on his face. His cheeks still tinted a slight pink from earlier.

"I am but please don't call me that and I'll give you a real hello." Dawn retorted, she was already in a slight mood from being both tired and hungry and she really didn't want to argue with her childhood friend.

Kenny rolled his eyes but nodded; he pulled up a chair and sat down. "So when did you arrive in Hoenn?" He asked, a smile coming back onto his face. "I came here back in the fall, I figured that I should come relatively early considering that I never challenged the league before. I could use the training since contest battling isn't as competitive as league battling, so basically I'm like a relatively new trainer here just with slightly stronger Pokémon." He shrugged lightly.

Dawn took her seat next to Paul, "So this is the secret region you went to..." She trailed off in thought, remembering that he had told her of his next travels, though he refused to tell her where exactly. "Wait? You're challenging the league?" She stared at him incredulously.

"Just as a change," he waved his hand, "trust me, contests are way more fun!" He eyed Dawn, Paul and Drew, "Are you traveling together?" He seemed slightly tense as he eyed both Drew and Paul.

Dawn nodded, "Yeah, I came here not too long ago and ran into May, who's also traveling with us," Kenny visibly relaxed at that remark. "Then we went to LaRousse and stayed with Drew who's a really good friend of May. After the contest, May's brother called and said that somebody from Sinnoh was challenging their dad, we rushed over because why not? I thought I knew them and I did." She looked over at Paul who was glaring at the table.

"Hey guys!" May approached with a large container full of various sandwiches and berries inside. "I didn't know what you wanted so I just got an assortment." She looked up at Kenny, "Oh hello." She said kindly and smiled then took her seat next to Drew, now too busy with opening a sandwich from its plastic wrap that she had already taken out of the container.

"How many badges do you have Paul?" Kenny asked, "I'm going to get my fifth soon, I'm going to go to Petalburg City."

"Five." He grunted and took a bite of a ham sandwich with lettuce and some kind of sauce, maybe mayonnaise.

Kenny quickly stood up, "Oh right!" He exclaimed then smiled to the four, "Sorry I gotta go, I made an appointment with Norman for a battle in a few days, I should probably get going now." He snatched his bag and slung it over his shoulder, "I'll be seeing you around DeeDee, see you later rival!" He nodded to Paul with a grin and gave Dawn a sly look, "See ya!" And with that he quickly turned around and left.

"I think Barry's rubbing off on him," Dawn looked at Paul, "He's usually arrives in the town almost a week early."

"Who was that?" May asked around her _very_ stuffed mouth.

Drew sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Please swallow your food first."

May opened her mouth and showed him the half chewed food; he wrinkled his nose in disgust and pushed her bottom jaw closed. "That was Kenny, an old childhood friend of mine." Dawn said, reaching over to get her own sandwich.

"Another idiot," Paul interjected, "there is no way he can be my rival."

"Don't be so mean." Dawn said around her mouthful of food, "Kenny's a really kind person and a good battler, him and Ash had a really good battle back in Sinnoh and he's undoubtedly gotten better since then, just like you have. I know you're basing your opinion on his battling skills because you don't like his general personality, but don't be quick to judge his skill just because you don't like him. You didn't like Ash and he was still a good battler."

Paul stared at her from the corner of his eye, "I'll keep my opinion on him as it is."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **May 13th, 2006**

"Paul you are in my way!" Paul glared at the blue haired girl as she shoved him aside. "You're making me late!"

He was definitely not making her even remotely late. Not bothering to say anything, he chose to continue his glaring at her back. "Idiot." He muttered. May shoved herself past him after the other girl. "It's a contest not contact sport." He hissed to them.

"I agree." Drew huffed, "They still have time. May's not even in it."

Dawn pushed her way through the large crowd of people, "Excuse me! Pardon me!" She caught herself saying. May groaned as she realized that she would have to do the exact same thing. She weaved herself through the throng of people uttering the same words Dawn had. The crowd barely budged despite the two girls' pleads.

"Slow down Dawn!"

"You hurry up May!"

May had agreed to help Dawn get ready for the contest, deciding to dress nicely for this one, like she did for Sinnoh's contests. She had her routine all planned out right down to the smallest sparkle, now all she had to do was win the ribbon!

She rushed to the front desk, confirming that she was present, was given the number to her dressing room. May had caught up to her by then, panting to catch her breath from all the running, they had run farther than they had in LaRousse on their way to Drew's apartment and thins time Dawn was the one with the adrenalin rush. "You better win after making me run after you." She crossed her arms, together the two girls walked to the dressing area. "I'll warn you now, I'm not the best with hair so I apologise in advance."

Dawn laughed and unlocked the room, stepping inside and looking around. "I'm sure you'll be great, no need to worry right?"

"Why do you think I keep my hair like this? There's plenty to worry about."

"Your hair looks fine, May!" Dawn flashed her a bright grin, "Now help me get this dress on, it can be a real pain sometimes."

Paul leaned back in his chair, undeniably bored as they waited for the contest to start, May, who had returned not too long ago, was chatting to him about something she obviously found very exciting as she had a higher tone to her voice, but he ignored her.

"You should've seen it Paul! It was so pretty!" She said with a big smile.

Paul rolled his eyes, deciding to humour her, he answered, "What was?"

May sighed slightly annoyed that she had to repeat herself, but her excited admiration overwhelmed that annoyance. "Dawn's dress, usually I hate those things but it was just so beautiful, she looked like a princess! She said her mom got it for her as a present for coming here, Sinnoh has much more glam than Hoenn, here you need to be dressed for the extreme heat sometimes. Her dress was literally a ball gown, she's going to look stunning while she performs."

"Sinnoh's not much better," He grunted, "It's colder, especially in Snowpoint City, it only snows there." He crossed his arms, "If you want glamour go live in Kalos. Maybe you'll see your friend there."

"Ash? How did you know he was in Kalos?" May asked suspiciously, "I thought you wanted no contact with him."

Paul rolled his eyes at her _again_ , "It's hard not to figure out he was the one who jumped off of the Lumiose Tower. What other idiot would do that?"

"What if your pokémon was the one falling off of it?"

"I wouldn't climb the outside of that tower."

The lights in the room dimmed and a spotlight was shone on a lady who was standing in the middle of the stage. She waved wildly and smup around in a circle to look at aver angle the people were sitting in around her. "Hello everybody and welcome to the Verdanturf Town pokémon contest!" There was a loud roar from the audience. "I'm Vivian Meridan and I'll be your host for today!" There was another loud roar from the audience that was deafning to the mauve haired trainer. It almost rivalled the one from the Lily of the Valley Confrence, and that was suprising sinch there was a much smaller amount of spectators. Paul rolled his eyes, wanting this to quickly be over and done with. "We have our three judges joining us today! Let's all welcome Mr. Contesta the head of the Pokémon Coordinators Association, Mr. Sukizo head of the Pokémon Fan Club, and Verdanturf's very own Nurse Joy!" She gestured to each person in their turn. "Let's get this show on the road; we have a whopping number of forty-three coordinators here today! Let's welcome our fist contestant Verdanturf's very own, the mysterious yet mesmerizing Phantom!"

May jumped up from her seat, "I remember Timmy!"

"Who's Timmy?" Drew asked.

May lowered herself back into her seat, "That's the Phantom's real name; he's my friend, though we don't really talk much anymore. I wonder how he's doing." She leaned forward in her chair slightly to get a better look.

"Dusclops!" He said as he threw his pokéball into the air. The pokémon appeared from the pokéball, a strange black fog surrounding them. "Will-O-Whisp!" Blue balls of fire shot out from the mist, creating an eerie glow within. The flames surrounded the shadowed figures hiding in the mist creating a dazzling blue outline. The foggy area surrounding them soon disappeared and revealed the two characters inside, a Dusclops, as we already knew, and a boy wearing a Dusclops mask. "Finish with Psychic!" The Dusclops' eyes glowed red and the blue flames started to spin around it in a fast circle before exploding around it, illuminating the dark stadium.

"Oh wow! What an incredible performance, a great way to start this contest with and performed in only two moves!" Vivian said, "Let's see how our judges liked it! Mr. Contesta?"

"It was very well planned out, and exceptionally well done, excellent job!" He said with a grin.

Vivian turned to the next man, "Remarkable!" He said before she even got a chance to say anything.

"It left me wanting more!" Nurse Joy commented.

Paul didn't pay much attention to the rest of the contest; he found it boring, but also somewhat interesting to see what these trainers came up with. "Next up we have Dawn who visits us all the way from Sinnoh!" Paul adjusted his position a little; he was fairly interested to see what she had chosen to do for her appeal. She kept it quiet and refused to have anyone help her with it. She appeared on stage wearing a pink ball gown like dress, it was very different from the one he had seen her wear in Sinnoh. He only knew what it looked like from the TVs in the Pokémon center lobbies. It reached the floor in layers and just like May had said; it was a dress for a princess, not that she was one.

May sighed from beside him, "I'm so proud of her hair. I should be a hair dresser!" She said proudly. Paul looked closer at her hair; it fell into nice navy ringlets down her back, a pink bow placed on the back of her head. Paul had to admit, it did look nice.

"Togekiss, spotlight!" She threw the pokéball high into the air and the dual fairy and flying type pokémon appeared, sparkles dancing all around it. Her pokémon landed gracefully in front of her and did a little spin on its one foot. "Fly and use safeguard!" Togekiss sprung into the air, its body soon glowed a bright green and two vortexes of the same green colour formed around it, "Now use Aura Slash!"

Paul frowned, did she really combine two moves together? He hoped that they worked hard enough to actually accomplish it, so she didn't embarrass herself, and come crying to them after.

Togekiss formed a ball in-between its wings, it was still gliding through the air, there was a large blue sphere in front of it, it had many different shades of blue within it, it resembled a marble. Suddenly Togekiss shot forward, leaving the Safeguard vortexes where they were and shot the sphere at it. They collided and created a huge shimmering blue explosion. It made a loud boom and rained dazzling sparkles all around the stage, it was like a firework. Togekiss created another sphere and shot it at the other vortex which was just lazily floating in the air, creating the same reaction as the first one. With a low curtsey, both finished their appeal.

"That was simply breath taking; it reminded me of my childhood!" Mr. Contesta sighed dramatically. "I always loved fireworks!"

"Simply remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo nodded.

Nurse Joy clapped her hands together, "It kept me on the edge of my seat, gorgeous!" Dawn grinned and waved to the crowd before hurrying off the stage with her pokémon beside her.

"Dawn will move onto the next round for sure!" Paul heard Drew say, "It was better than anything May could have done."

"Hey!"

After many boring appeals later, Vivian started to talk again, "Well that's if for the appeals, now to cut it down and pick who moves onto round two!" She spun around and faced the large screen. The Phantom's face was the first to appear and a while after him Dawn's face was seen on it. Paul let out a breath he was unaware of holding and leaned back into the chair.

May elbowed him in the side with a smile, "You find them interesting don't you?"

"No." Paul said flatly, he did not enjoy them, he would much rather be training right now if he could.

"You're lying." She gave him a smug grin, "After the short intermission, battling is up next, something more up your lane." She stood up; Drew did the same, "Are you going to come with us to see Dawn before she has to go back out?" He shook his head, not wanting to. "Oh yes you are." May pulled him out of the seat, her hands on his shoulders and guiding him towards the backstage. "She'll feel more confident if you go too, you're a good battler, she wants praise from somebody like you."

Eventually they found themselves in the back hall; Dawn was sitting on one of the benches, talking to her Quilava. "Hey Dawn!" She turned around and smiled. May rushed towards her and gave her a huge hug, "That was so beautiful, you did amazing!" She pulled away with a smile.

"Thanks! It felt good, I'm glad it got me to the next round. Let's just hope Quilava has enough energy to beat our opponent, right?" She looked down at it kindly.

"Lava!" It flared the bright fire on its back.

"You're going to do great! Remember you were the runner-up for your first contest here, you'll win for sure!" May pumped her fist in the air, "Right guys?" She eyed both Paul and Drew.

Drew nodded and looked at the other man who had his arms crossed, "Think before you call a move." Was all he said.

Dawn smiled and nodded, "I can do this!" She said, "We're gonna win out first ribbon in Verdanturf!"

"Hey May!" The group looked towards the voice, the Phantom was standing there, a smile on his face, he didn't have his mask on and his brown hair was sticking up in different places thanks to his hat. "You still coordinating?"

May grinned at him, "Hi Timmy! Of course I am! I only need one more ribbon, but that weenie beat me to it." She pointed a finger at Drew accusingly.

"Weenie?" He furrowed his brows.

"It's what Max calls you." She waved her hand in dismissal. Drew frowned and uttered something that sounded like, "that little brat" or something along those lines.

There was a voice that announced through the speakers, "Round two will begin in five minutes, please return to your seats."

May shrugged and turned to Dawn then back at Timmy, "Good luck both of you, we'll be rooting for you!" She nudged Paul and nodded her head in Dawn's direction.

"Fine." He hissed to the brunette, "Good luck." He quickly turned around and left the room first. Not caring if May and Drew followed him.

Paul sat down in his seat, May still grinning at him. "What?"

"Do you want Dawn to win?" She asked.

Paul turned his attention to the stage. "I don't want to deal with her crying." He said simply and ignored the rest of what she had said. He heard her let out a frustrated groan, she became quiet again as the lights dimmed down once more, the lady in the pink dress appeared, the same smile plastered on her face as before.

"Who's excited for round two of the Verdanturf Contest!" A loud cheer echoed around the building, reverberating off of the high roof. "If you take a look on the screen above, you will see the match-ups for the battles." There were six different pairs on the screen, though you couldn't see their faces just yet. "And here are the match ups!" Each card flipped at the same time. Dawn was placed in the first pair, up against a black-haired boy. "Our first match up is Dawn versus Cole!"

"He looks pathetic." Paul grumbled. "A preschooler could beat him easily."

"What would you do if Dawn loses? Would you train her?"

"Ignore her." Was his answer. A large battlefield appeared from under the main stage. Dawn appeared from the entrance and walked across the stage to the field, Cole was already there. They approached each other and shook hands before retreating back to their own sides.

"Five minutes up on the clock and battle begin!" Vivian shouted enthusiastically.

"Quilava spotlight!" Dawn tossed the pokéball into the air, in an array of little blue flames, the fire type materialized in front of her, letting out a growl. Cole seemed to freeze for a second then let out his own pokémon, a Nincada. Paul rolled his eyes, his slight interest gone. "If she can't beat a measly nincada then that Quilava is useless."

"Nincada is part ground type," Drew said, "She's at a disadvantage too."

"Flame Wheel-Swift quickly!" Quilava opened its mouth and various golden stars shot out, surrounding it. It quickly engulfed itself in flames and rolled straight towards Nincada.

"Nincada dodge it!" The boy cried, a hint of worry was clear in his voice. Nincada was a bit late, Quilava had hit it, the flames engulfing it and the stars shooting into the flame and exploding, sparkles of gold was seen around the flame. Nincada let out a cry of pain and Quilava jumped back. "Nincada use dig!" Nincada burrowed its way into the ground without hesitation.

"Be careful!" Dawn warned. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Then suddenly the ground exploded from underneath the fire-type. Quilava was thrown into the air and crashed back down to the ground. "Smokescreen!" Dawn called; a thick mass of black smoke oozed out of its mouth and soon filled the battle area. "Flamethrower." She said confidently, a smile plastered on her face. Quilava was seen creeping throughout the smoke then a large stream of fire was shot from it, hitting Nincada dead on. The light illuminated the smoke and gave it an orange glow. Nincada was thrown against the wall behind her opponent and skidded down the wall, landing in a heap on the floor. A buzzer rang out and on the screen, the time was up and the opposing pokémon was knocked unconscious. It flashed a picture of Dawn's smiling face, flashing the word 'winner' coloured gold across the screen.

Quilava raced over to her and leapt into her arms, letting out a pleased cry. "That was a pathetic battle." Paul murmured. "If she used flamethrower first it would've been over sooner."

"It's a contest battle," Drew said. "She has to show off her pokémon and present them."

After a long wait of watching agonizing battle rounds, two finalists were announced, one of them being Dawn, the other was Timmy, or the Phantom as he was better known. Both were standing at opposite sides of the field, eagerly waiting for the okay to start their battle. The timer went off. Paul had to admit, he was feeling a little excited at this point, mostly for the pride of his region of course. Dawn threw her pokéball in the air the exact same time as Timmy threw his, him releasing his Duskclops, Dawn with her Quilava. That only left her with three moves she could use, swift was out of commission against a ghost type.

"Flamethrower!" She called instantly, the large beam of fire aimed directly at the ghost-type.

Timmy swung his arm around in front of him. "Psychic!" He shouted.

"Quilava!" Dawn shouted and the pokémon ran around, trying to keep out of Duskclop's range, the flamethrower still burning the pokémon, though it didn't seem to be affected all that much, aside from the occasional flinching. "Smokescreen!" The same dark smoke emitted from its mouth and leaked around the field. Making psychic harder to use without the lack of vision. "Swift!" She called.

"He'll know what she's doing." Paul heard May say. "She already used that technique. Besides, that won't affect it..."

Stars came from all different areas of the smoke, making it hard to pinpoint where exactly the pokémon was, the stars aimed their path to Dusclops, hitting it but not harming it whatsoever. "Flamewheel!" Quilava jumped from behind Duskclops, a bright spinning blaze, hitting it square in the back. "Flamethrower too!" As Quilava was spinning, flames were shooting out around it, giving it the impression of wings.

"Will-o-whisp!" Timmy yelled. Blue flames appeared between Dusclops's hands, then flying behind it and adding to the flame Quilava was controlling, a purple hue to it now. Timmy let out a noise of annoyance. "Shadow Punch!" Its fists became enveloped in a gray shade; two large fists shot out from it and pounded into Quilava who was thrown backwards. By now both pokémon were panting. Thirty seconds still counting down on the timer.

"Go all out with Flame Wheel!" Dawn said. Quilava's flames on its back grew to a terrifying size and created a massive sphere of fire around it. It raced forward colliding with the ghost type.

"Focus Punch!" Quilava pushed harder, Duskclops' hands were confined, smothered in front of it, unable to move. Paul felt himself stand up, May and Drew following his lead.

"Come on Dawn! Ten more seconds!" May screamed and shook Paul. "Say something! It'll help her!"

"No way!"

"Just do it!"

Paul thought for a moment but begrudgingly complied and yelled. "Show him what it's like in Sinnoh!" Quilava suddenly pushed more, making Duskclops' skid backwards slightly. "Show them how we're the best!"

 _Beep!_

The time was up and the winner was clear.

"And the winner of the Verdanturf Contest is Dawn from Twinleaf Town all the way in Sinnoh!" Paul actually smiled at this. Dawn shook hands with Timmy, grinning hugely. It was a beautiful emotion placed on her face. She and Quilava raced over to receive their ribbon, pride emanating off both trainer and pokémon.

May placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him down the stairs quickly. "I told you it would work!" Pushing their way through the crowd they made their way to Dawn's dressing room where she and her pokémon were happily celebrating. She noticed them standing in the doorway and hurried over, enveloping Paul in a hug. He tensed up slightly at the embrace.

"Thank you!"


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **May 16th, 2006**

"Does she honestly have to snore so loud?" Paul grumbled and took a bite of his apple, glaring harshly at the tent that the two girls shared. He was the only one awake currently and he was admittedly baffled by the way Dawn and Drew could easily sleep through the racket. He could barely fall asleep with a fan on because of the noise. He wasn't a person that could sleep with excess background noise; it was hard enough with the noises of the night-time pokémon. He held his gaze on the pink tent for a moment longer before turning around and continuing eating. His pokémon sat around him, having a moment of early morning rest, it was a cooler morning which was strange for Hoenn. It was a comfortable weather because it was what Sinnoh normally felt like in the spring. Torterra was somewhere between sleep and the real world while Weavile was chattering happily with Honchcrow, and Aagron and Hariyama were having what seemed to be an arm wrestling challenge.

There was a prodding on his back, he looked down and saw Dawn's Piplup, staring up at him while rubbing an eye tiredly. It let out a yawn then mumbled, "Pip..." He pointed to the bowl Weavile was eating out of. "Piplup." He looked back up at Paul and yawned yet again. Paul rolled his eyes, staring at Piplup who stared right back. He let out a grumble before reaching into his bag and pulled out a can of _his_ pokémon food.

"You need some of this, you're too weak." Piplup glared up at him and slapped its flipper against Paul's leg in a frustrated manner.

"Pip! Piplup!" Paul shoved the pokémon away with his foot before taking the bowl Torterra finished eating out of and dumped the contents in it before placing the bowl in front of the water type. Paul picked Torterra's bowl because it wouldn't care if Piplup ate out of it, now with his other pokémon; that was a whole different story.

"Don't hit me, if you want to win those stupid contests you need real food. Not those ridiculous poffin things she gives you. You'll look more like a Spheal than whatever you really are."

Piplup glared at him, scooping out a handful of the kibble and threw it at Paul who narrowly moved out of the way. "Don't waste it! That cost me a lot of money!" Piplup smirked at this and reached into the bowl again. "Don't you dare!" Paul hissed. Piplup tossed the piece of food before blowing a bubblebeam at him. There was a giggle from behind, Paul glanced over and glared at Dawn. "You spoil this fat bratty bird too much. I hate it." He wrung out a part of his shirt; there was a big dark gray spot on it.

"Oh well," Dawn shrugged, "Piplup's not going anywhere sorry."

Paul rubbed his face. "Don't follow me." He turned and angrily trudged away.

"Eat that." Dawn pointed to the food. "I think it was really kind of Paul to feed you, you should've been nicer you know." Piplup rolled it eyes and flopped itself onto the ground, finally starting to eat the food. "Don't be so mean; Paul's not exactly good with people, or pokémon." Something grabbed a hold of both of her hands, pulling her forward and causing her to almost fall. "What are you doing?" She asked Torterra who was pulling her like an excited child would to their mother, Weavile on the other side. They stopped and Weavile pointed towards the direction Paul had disappeared to. "He told me not to-" She got cut off as another one shoved her from behind.

"Just go." She heard May say groggily, Dawn hadn't even noticed the cease in snoring. "He'll like it if you're there."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Just go! I wanna sleep in peace." May all but whined.

"Fine, fine." Dawn sighed exasperated before walking through the bushes, not bothering with weaving her way around the underbrush, a few scratches were okay she supposed. "Paul?" She called once she got a reasonable distance away. She turned around and jumped slightly when she noticed him leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. He looked as if he was sleeping, but Dawn knew better.

"I told you not to follow me. You're just as annoying as your pokémon. Probably spoiled like them too."

"I am not!" She walked over to him and stood next to him. "I spoil my pokémon because they're my family. Are your pokémon your family?" Dawn cherished her pokémon as if they were her children, she had no siblings, not like Paul did, or May, and to be honest, she was very jealous of him. Though having no father in her life since she was young, that thought was soon banished.

"No."

"Oh come on, they're always there for you are they not? They're family; you just don't want to admit it, like Reggie is. Also why do you get into moods over silly things? Piplup really does like you, he was just teasing; he does it to me too."

"I'm not in a mood."

Dawn held back another bout of laughter. "Yes you are." A thought suddenly struck her, "How about you teach me and my pokémon to battle better? I'd really appreciate it."

"You battle fine."

Dawn froze, her eyes widened at this. "W-what?" She stared at him. "Do you really think so?"

"If you won that ribbon, then yes."

"Can you help me get better then? I want to be able to beat you someday!"

Paul opened his eyes and pulled away from the tree, walking deeper into the forest. "Maybe after lunch," He said.

"Why not now?" Dawn hurried after him, "You always have to strive for the best right? Not for what's good enough. I have much more room to get better!" She grinned up at him. He stopped, causing her to run straight into his back. She placed a hand on it and pushed herself backwards, "Oops, sorry." She mumbled. She felt a light blush of embarrassment creep up her cheeks.

"We'll be late for your next contest; you don't want to miss it."

"We won't! It'll help me win that ribbon for sure!"

"Go get them."

"What?" This confused her. Was he actually going to help her?

"Go get your pokémon; mine will come once they see you." He turned his head to peer at her from over his shoulder.

She leapt at him and engulfed him in a hug, another one. He didn't know why. "Thank you Paul!" She pulled herself away and quickly dashed off, a big grin painted on her face.

"She's really... annoying." He muttered.

Paul could feel the ground trembling beneath him, he turned around and sure enough, Dawn was standing there, pokéballs in hand and Torterra behind her. Honchcrow and Weavile were happily perched on him. Upon seeing their trainer they hurried off and stood next to Torterra instead.

"The other ones fell asleep; I didn't want to wake them." Dawn said. Paul shrugged, at this moment he didn't really care about what his other pokémon did in their free time. He was feeling nicer today.

"Which pokémon are you going to use in your next contest?" He asked.

Dawn thought for a moment, "Well, it's another double contest. Oh yeah! You didn't see that one, May was my opponent and-"

"What pokémon are you using?" He repeated.

Dawn rolled her eyes and threw two pokéballs into the air, and in a flash of red, Pachirisu and Mamoswine. "I want to use my ice chandelier trick, it's both an offensive move, but I might use it in my appeal. I haven't decided yet."

Paul looked over both pokémon, then to his own. "Weavile come here." The pokémon scurried over to Paul's side. "Use the attack on Weavile." He looked down at the pokémon. "Don't let it hit you." Weavile nodded once and bounced in front of his trainer.

"Vile!" The ice type chanted. Pachirisu and Mamswine glanced at each other then took their spot on the opposite side.

"Okay! Mamoswine, ice shard!" A small ball of ice began to form between Mamoswine's tusks. It slammed its front feet into the ground, causing it to rumble. The ball of ice shattered and the shards flew at Pachirisu, surrounding it in another, larger ball of ice. "Pachirisu run and use discharge!" The ball slowly began to roll towards Weavile, picking up speed quickly. Blue strings of electricity crackled inside. As Pachirisu was almost about to hit Weavile, it punched out its arm, its claws were glowing a bright white colour.

"How many times have you used this move?" Paul asked, eying the panting Pachirisu.

Dawn scratched the back of her head. "I don't use too much; it's still not how I want it to be like even after all this time. It's worked a few times but not as many as I've practiced. Usually I train to use it in many contests but I just scrap the idea because it either fails or gets easily broken like it did with Weavile. That's why I was hoping you could help me strengthen it." She shrugged. "I've created different moves that used this as a sort of starting point but I like the idea of this one and I want to use it more than the slight chance of it actually working in a contest."

"It's difficult. When the ice is too thin it's easy to break, but easy to maneuverer. When it's too thick it's a good heavy defence shield, but Pachirisu won't be able to move it, it will exceed its own weight. Do it again." Dawn glanced to who two pokémon and nodded to them. Pachirisu and Mamoswine nodded back to her. Mamoswine threw another ice shard at Pachirisu who had already covered itself in blue electricity. Paul neared the still moving ice. He knocked on it, startling the running Pachirisu. "Come and see, the ice is too thin." Dawn walked up to his side.

"But you said that if it was any thicker than Pachirisu wouldn't be heavy enough to make it move right?"

Paul shrugged, "You could try to get Mamoswine to make the ice a little thicker, if the ice is this thin than the move isn't as strong as it can be. Train the move first before you try to do this again. Then it will be easier to make the move weaker if it's needed to. If the move is stronger then it will help with battles, it will cause more damage." The ice suddenly shattered, letting Pachirisu free. "Weavile come." The pokémon walked over, giving Pachirisu a look. "Use your ice beam on this thing. Make it end up like Mamoswine's ice shard."

Weavile gave Paul a curt nod and gestured for Pachirisu to back up. The electric squirrel looked uncertain but with a little bit of proddig from Dawn it finally moved back a reasonable amount.

"Vile weavile."

Pachirisu frowned at whatever Weavile had said. "Pachi pachi!"

"Wea!" Weavile hissed.

"Pachi!" Electricity crackled around the smaller pokémon.

There was a rumbling from under foot as large vines erupted in front of each pokémon. "Terra!" Torterra shouted, walking forward.

Dawn gasped and raced forward. "Are you okay Pachirisu?" Pachirisu pointed an accusing paw at Weavile. Dawn gave her pokémon a small smile. "I know you probably don't really like working with Paul's pokémon but for this once can you please? It will be really helpful for us." Pachirisu turned and gave Weavile a long hard stare before slouching over with a sigh.

"Pachi."

Dawn picked up her pokémon and spun around with it. "Oh thank you Pachirisu!" She set the electric squirrel back on the ground and it begrudgingly faced Weavile again.

"Don't start things." Paul grunted to his own pokémon. "I want to get this over with so we can leave again." Weavile grunted in response giving Pachirisu a glare. "Ice beam." Paul called lazily. Weavile formed a small, bright blue ball between its hands and fired a long beam at Pachirisu. The beam circled Pachirisu rather than hit it straight on, which Dawn found to be incredible. Without Dawn's orders, Pachirisu began to run in circles, shooting out small blue sparks from its body. When the light disappeared and Pachirisu stopped its spark, Paul approached the solid sphere of ice; Dawn followed his lead, approaching it as well. He knocked on it.

"You can already tell that the ice is thicker."

Dawn leaned forward and knocked on it herself, the sound was much deeper. "You're right, but," She held up a finger, "Can Pachirisu move it?" She looked at her pokémon. Pachirisu took a step and the sphere moved with it. "How did you make it like that?" She looked between Paul and Weavile.

"I'll teach it ice beam or strengthen its ice shard. Whichever one you want."

Dawn looked over her shoulder at Mamoswine. "Would you like to be taught by Paul?" Without a second though Mamoswine nodded its head. The idea of learning from a competitive battler did sound appealing. Dawn nodded, "Alright, do you want to learn ice beam?" This though took longer for a reply, Mamoswine shook its head. "Okay." She nodded once. "Sounds like a plan."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **May 18** **th** **, 2006**

Dawn stared at herself in the mirror in her dressing room. She was participating in the Mauville City pokémon contest. She was the only one entered in the contest out of the three coordinators in their little group. Drew wasn't competing for the time being and May already had her five so it was unnecessary for them to compete.

"This is my chance!" Dawn nodded, pumping a fist in the air. "I'm going to get this ribbon and show them how strong my pokémon are!" Dawn looked up at the television placed in her room, noting that she should be preparing to leave since the coordinator that was before her was up next. "I can do this."

Dawn walked down the hallway, arriving in the main room where majority of the other contestants anxiously waited for their turn to go and preform. There was another television in the main waiting room; many coordinators were anxiously watching the screen. She turned to make her way to the stage, holding onto the two pokéballs in her hand tightly. "I will win this!"

There was a person waiting behind the curtains, one that would lead the contestants onto the stage. Dawn smiled kindly at him. "Hello!"

The man looked at her then to a sheet of paper he was holding. "Contestant number ninety-seven, Dawn Berlitz?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's me!"

Loud cheering was heard from the other side of the curtain. After a few moments of the cheering a boy walked off of the stage, smiling at Dawn as he passed her. "Good luck!" He said.

"Thank you!" Dawn replied. The man with the paper waved her onto the stage. Dawn took a deep breath before stepping out and onto the large stage. There were lights flashing everywhere, accentuating Mauville's love for electricity and its high-tech atmosphere. Dawn waved to the crowd, just spotting her friends in a noticeable, clear spot of the crowd. May was standing up cheering; Dawn swore that she could hear her yells from the stage. Drew was smiling while clapping and Paul gave her a stare, and as if he knew that she was looking directly at him, he gave her a slight nod, almost unnoticeable from their distance but she could tell. Dawn held onto her pokéballs and then threw them into the air. Mamoswine and Pachirisu erupted onto the stage in a huge cluster of glitter.

"Mamoswine, Hidden Power!" Many small blue and yellow spheres of energy formed between the ice-types tusks. They then shot out, hovering above the stadium. "Pachirisu use discharge!" Pachirisu's yellow cheeks instantly began to spark blue jolts of electricity; they then all shot out in beams, merging with Mamoswine's Hidden Power, giving them a bright glow. "Ice shard Mamoswine!" In a flash, ice chunks formed all around Mamoswine, the biggest one between his tusks. "Spark!" Dawn shouted. Pachirisu started to envelop itself in sparks of electricity. Mamoswine released each of the shards of ice, sending one at every single one of the glowing balls all over the stadium, the biggest one flying to Pachirisu. Each of the ice shards wrapped themselves around the shimmering Hidden Power balls, making them look like floating light bulbs. Pachirisu was glowing inside of the successful ice chandelier, radiating off a gorgeous glow. The whole appeal brightened up the contest hall, and then all at once each of the icy light bulbs exploded, including Pachirisu's, sending sparkling ice powder onto the stadium.

The cheer was louder than the one boy before her had. Pachirisu leaped on top Mamoswine and together the two pokémon struck a pose. Dawn pulled the bottom of her dress out to the sides and curtsied.

"Oh wow, what a beautiful sight that was!" Vivian's voice broke through the crowd. "Let's have a look at our judges and see Dawn's score!"

Mr. Contesta was sitting in the first chair, like he always was. "Your pokémon were absolutely beautiful! I loved the seals you used in the start, not something we see a lot here in Hoenn! Then you ended it with the same way you entered it, in a bout of glorious sparkles. I'm thoroughly impressed!"

Mr. Suziko was next exclaiming his simple. "Remarkable!"

And finally it was the Mauville City's very own Nurse Joy. "Oh my, such a wonderful and beautiful performance. You showed off you Pokémon's beauty perfectly!"

"Thank you! We will tally up your points and let's hope that you move onto the next round!" Vivian exclaimed. The crowd once again erupted into cheers and Dawn walked off behind the curtain. The next contestant was already waiting.

"Good luck!" Dawn said. The next contestant sneered at her.

"Darling, I don't need any luck!" They turned to look at the man with the clipboard. "I'm going on now."

"Wait, they're not done yet!"

"Doesn't matter. They're dying to see me after so long." They waved a hand and strutted onto the stage.

"Okay…" Dawn muttered and continued to walk backstage. She sat in the main room, watching the strange and very rude coordinator preform. They were dancing around the stage with a Banette and a Cacturne. Once they were done their performance, there was a camera change to a spot in the audience, as this was airing live. Interestingly enough, the camera was showing May, Drew and Paul. May had shrunk down in her seat, hiding her face, Drew was looking on with a weird expression that Dawn had never seen on him before, and Paul had a hand on his chin, his eyes closed.

"That performance was dedicated to my number one ugly rival, May!" They said her name in a sing song voice. "I know you're out there! I can see you!" He thrilled. Dawn frowned, another one of May's rivals? Though it was to be expected since they were in Hoenn.

The first round ended quickly and there was an intermission, Dawn noticed her three friends quickly approaching her, May was holding onto Piplup, using him to cover her face. "Dawn, in the dressing room!" She whispered. Dawn tipped her head to the side slightly but followed them back. As soon as they walked into the room, May slammed the door shut, turning the lock on the knob. "I really hope he didn't actually see me." She grumbled, setting Piplup onto the ground.

"Who?" Dawn said.

"Harley." Drew muttered. "He was a coordinator with us. There were four of us that were undeniably very well known in this region. May, Harley, a woman named Solidad, and myself." He scratched his head. "Harley was the most _eccentric_ out of all of us, Solidad won the grand festival and wasn't from our region, for a few years before her it was only people from Hoenn that won it. Then there was May, the brand new prodigy, and myself the most popular male coordinator in the region."

"Don't flatter yourself." May cut in.

Drew ignored her. "Harley isn't the nicest person, so don't take any of what he says as the truth. He insults to try and put you down, when in all honesty it doesn't have any truth within it."

There was a loud knocking against the door. "Oooh May! I know you're hanging out with that blue haired bimbo!"

May slapped a hand over her face. "Don't open the door." She said in a whisper.

"May darling, I can hear your voice! It doesn't matter if you come out now, but the second round is about to start. It would be best for your _friend_ to open the door now. I want to see the look on her face when she doesn't pass with her pathetic appeal." Harley sang.

Dawn glanced between the two other coordinators. "I do need to go out there to see my results."

"I don't see why this is such a big deal. Let's hurry up and see these results so I can go and sit back down." Paul said, walking to the door and opening it, showing off a smug looking Harley.

"Hello hun!" He waved. "So nice to see the lovely couple again!" He eyed Paul. "How old are you? That scowl will leave wrinkles." Paul walked past him, ignoring what he had said. "How rude." Harley shook his head. "I hope you have fun losing." He said to Dawn and strutted off.

"We'll be right there." Said Drew, he had his arms crossed. Dawn sighed with a nod and walked out of the room. Paul was leaning against the wall beside the doorway. Dawn continued to walk down the hallway. She could hear Paul's foot steps behind her. She stepped into the room and found an empty spot not too far away. She walked over, Paul standing next to her.

"Do you think May and Drew are actually a couple?" She looked up at him.

"How would I know?"

Dawn shrugged. "They could be if you think about it. Like how Drew always gives her roses and stuff. They tease each other a lot too, but in a more than friend way to me."

"It's none of my business, so I don't really care if they are or aren't."

"It would be nice to get flowers like May does."

A loud voice broke through the noisy room. "Alright!" Vivian appeared on the screen. Dawn could hear her heartbeat quicken and her and everything around her felt heavier than normal. "We have tallied up our top twenty competitors with the highest scores; they will be the ones to move onto the next round! And here they are!" It took a moment for the first face to appear; Dawn felt the weight be lifted off of her chest in an instant.

"I did it!" She cheered, turning to face Paul. "I got the highest amount of points!" She leapt forward and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you! You helped us perfect ice chandelier, thank you so much Paul!"

Paul pushed her away. "Whatever, don't hug me."

Dawn grinned; it was her turn to go on stage for the second round. She was in the last group to go on stage, the other performers before her did exceptionally well too. The competitors were all very equal in their skill levels, a big majority of them had all ended in ties here all pokémon had fainted. Leaving only three competitors who have moved onto the second round, one of them was Harley. Dawn smiled and held onto her two pokéballs. She was going to use the two pokémon that she used in the finals of the Sinnoh Grand Festival, sure she didn't win but that wasn't going to bring her hopes down now.

Dawn walked onto the battle field. The boy she was going up against was walking at the same pace as she was, just on the opposite side of the stage. Together they both stepped into the trainer's areas, just outside of the actual battling arena. A loud buzz went off, indicating the start of their battle.

"Piplup, Togekiss spotlight!" Dawn called as she threw her two pokémon out.

Across from her the boy threw out her own two pokémon. "Volcarona, Duosion!"

Dawn stared at the pokémon, she had barely seen any Unova pokémon, and she had certainly never seen these two. She only learned about them once she found out that Ash was going to that region. Luckily enough, she remembered the types of these two pokémon, one was a duel bug-fire type and the other was a psychic type. The combo attacks she was planning to use wouldn't be immensely effective on the Duosion, but would be very effective against the Volcarona.

"Rollout and Fiery Dance!" The boy called. The Duosion's jelly-like outer smoothed itself into round ball and rolled straight towards Dawn's two pokémon. It looked like it was aiming directly for Togekiss but suddenly changed direction and rolled into Piplup, running it over like a car's wheel. The Volcarona flapped its wings and swerved all around the arena before in a quick, jet-like movement; it crashed right into Togekiss, in result Togekiss pulled its wings in front of itself, providing a little protection from the rest of its body. "Bug Buzz!" The boy shouted again. Volcarona lifted its head up and let out an ear piercing screech. Red waves pulsed from the pokémon and vibrated as they were pushed outwards.

"Aura Sphere and Peck!" Dawn called; Togekiss pulled it's slightly burned wings away from where its ears were and formed a blue ball between them, pushing it straight into Volcarona's stomach for a point-blank shot. Volcarona blasted backwards and skidded across the ground. Piplup raced forward and dug its large beak into Duosion, piercing through the jelly and attacking the pokémon inside. Duosion let out a cry of pain and pulled backwards, stopping beside Volcarona, a sad look on its face, Dawn felt a little bit bad, but this was a battle, it was all fair even if it didn't seem like it. "Whirlpool and Aura Sphere!"

Piplup looked upwards and formed a large whirlpool, quickly shooting it out at the two pokémon, Togekiss had already formed its attack, and sent it directly into the base of the whirlpool, making it glow a beautiful bright, light blue colour. The two Unovian pokémon were still recuperating from the previous and had no time to dodge as their trainer instructed. Volcarona, already taken damage from its own Fiery Dance and Aura Sphere, it was starting to get lower on health. Now a super effective water-type move only decreased it plenty more. After the barrage of water, the fire-bug type was breathing heavily and resting on the ground, its wings soaked and too heavy to fly.

"Duosion, Light Screen!" A big cube of yellow energy went around both Duosion and Volcarona, raising their defence stats. "Future Sight!" Duosion's eyes glowed a brilliant blue and stared at Piplup and Togekiss, analysing every inch of them. The wind picked up around them, Dawn's hair was flying everywhere. Suddenly a rainbow coloured beam shot out of nowhere and hit Piplup, making it roll across the ground. Piplup winced and got up, sticking a flipper out and pointing directly at Duosion, whose eyes had now gone back to normal.

"Pip pip lup pip!"

Duosion narrowed its eyes. "Duo!"

"Hidden Power!"

Blue orbs surrounded Duosion and show out; the orbs split and hit both Piplup and Togekiss. Both of Dawn's pokémon put their arms out to block and skidded back a few feet.

"Togekiss, Safeguard, and then Bubble Beam and Aura Sphere!" A green barrier appeared around Togekiss, it then formed an Aura Sphere and it flew through the green screen shattering it and sending sparkles all over Togekiss' body. Piplup then shot out its Bubble Beam and surrounded the blue sphere with many bubbles, the combo resembling a planet with many moons or rings. The attack hit Volcarona and finally knocked out the poor pokémon. "Peck and Sky Attack!" Piplup jumped onto Togekiss' back as it soared into the air, enveloping both in a bright red light. Together they both looked like a huge flying-type pokémon. They shot down and slammed right into Duosion, knocking it unconscious as well. There was another loud buzz, indicating that the match was over. The screen flashed before Dawn could get a glimpse of the yellow bars, she still wanted to see how many points she managed to knock off of the boy before his pokémon fainted, her picture flashed on the screen along with two of her pokémon and the giant word 'Winner' across the bottom. Dawn smiled. She was onto the quarter finals just like she wanted. The boy walked over to her and held out his hand. Dawn placed her hand in his and shook it once.

"Congratulations!" He said with a smile. He them pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "A beauty like you was destined to win!" Dawn could feel her face heat up.

"Uh, thank you." She said stiffly, the last person who has complemented her in that way was Conway; she didn't really want to relive being with him again. He wasn't her favourite person, but was much more liked than Harley was. Dawn pulled her hand away from his. "I need to go and prepare for the next battle, so uh goodbye." She said rather awkwardly and hurried off stage and into the trainer's area. Dawn let out a sigh, then shook her head. "Alright let's win this next battle, right guys?" She looked to her pokémon who nodded in agreement.

* * *

Dawn had easily won her second battle and had made it on to the finals, but unfortunately her opponent was none other than Harley. This outcome just made her even more excited to win against him. The pokémon he had used in the battling rounds, and would still continue to use under the contest rules, didn't have any major advantages against her two pokémon. She was just thankful that Harley didn't use his Cacturne May said he had. Now Dawn was standing on stage across from Harley who was giving her a smug grin. The buzz sounded again and Dawn threw her two pokéballs into the air, "Piplup, Togekiss!"

Harley laughed and tossed his pokéballs, "Show yourselves darlings, Wigglytuff, Araidos!" Harley's two pokémon appeared and gave Dawn's a sly look. Dawn raised her eyebrows at that.

"Like trainer, like pokémon." She muttered quietly. "Aura Sphere, Peck!" She shouted.

Piplup raced forward, its beak shimmering. Ariados stepped out of the way, confusing Piplup a little but it quickly gained its balance and slammed its beak into Ariados' side. Togekiss shot it's Aura Sphere at a high speed and almost missed Wigglytuff, who also had stepped aside, but luckily the attack hit its side enough to make it move back a little bit.

"My poor darlings!" Harley sang, "How about a little bit of Spider Web and Double Slap!" Wigglytuff quickly grabbed a hold of Piplup since it was closest to it and Ariados shot a large string onto the roof and started to build a massive web that was slowly starting to circle the whole battlefield. "Body Slam now Wigglytuff!" Wigglytuff jumped away from Piplup and landed on top of Togekiss, crushing it under its weight.

"Sky Attack!" Togekiss had a white aura around it and it shot into the air, Wigglytuff still on its back. Togekiss did a spin and Wigglytuff flew off, Togekiss then slammed itself down onto Wigglytuff. "Air Slash!" Togekiss spun around in a circle; small visible slashes were rapidly attacking Wigglytuff. "Aura Sphere!"

"Play Rough!" Harley called out. Play Rough was a fairy-type move, fairy-types were well known in Kalos and now many other pokémon from other regions were discovered to have the extra typing, somehow unknown to researchers. "Piplup, Ice Beam!" From the other side of the field, Piplup shot a beam of ice at the part fairy-type pokémon. Wigglytuff was throwing punches and kicks at Togekiss until it got entrapped in ice, frozen.

"You froze my darling! How rude! Ariados hun, Shadow Ball!" From its position in its massive web, the bug-type shot multiple black and purple spheres at the two other pokémon.

"Sky Attack and Peck!" Piplup jumped onto Togekiss' back and together the two flew up towards Araidos. Araidos shot another string of web and swung over to a different spot on its web. Togekiss realised what it had done and turned itself around, making sure that it was the only one caught in the web.

"Pip!" Piplup fell off of its back and tumbled to the ground.

Dawn looked at the situation, suddenly a thought clicked. "Whirlpool!" Piplup raised its head into the air, forming a very large Whirlpool. "Throw it up into the web!" Piplup spun around in a circle then threw the Whirlpool into the top of the web, immediately breaking it and the Whirlpool itself exploded into millions of drops of water, much like rain. Piplup smiled and danced as the drops fell around it. Togekiss was now free and it flew around the arena. Ariados also fell and was wiggling around on its back. "Quick Peck!" Dawn called. Piplup stopped its dancing and ran towards the upturned pokémon slamming its beak into its stomach. Ariados let out a cry of pain before falling unconscious. In the matter of time, Wigglytuff broke free of the ice but the buzzer rang. The five minutes were up. Dawn and Harley looked up at the screen, looking at each other's scores. The screen flashed again and showed the picture of the winner and their two pokémon. Dawn cheered as she saw her face. Piplup and Togekiss race towards her and jumped on her, knocking her over. Dawn laughed and hugged both of her pokémon. "Thanks you two!"

"Pip Piplup!"

"Toge!"

Dawn stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at Harley, hoping to thank him for the battle but he turned his nose up at her and sauntered off of the stage, not giving her a second glance. Dawn scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Dawn!" She turned around and saw Vivian smiling at her. "Congratulation on winning the Mauville City pokémon contest!" Vivian cheered and the crowd broke out in a large cheer. "Here's the Mauville City Contest ribbon!" She handed her a bright yellow ribbon, Dawn accepted it happily took it and held it up in the air."

"We got our first ribbon!" She brought it back down and held it close to her body. "Thank you!" She bowed down to Vivian, and then turned back to the crowd with a big grin. Once again the crowd burst into cheers. Dawn bowed again and hurried off stage to go and change since the contest was now officially over. She had to hurry so she could see her friends again and so Paul could train for his upcoming gym battle. She raced into her change room and quickly put on her regular clothes, her shorts, white shirt and short pink jacket. She pulled her beanie on her head as she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in!" Dawn called. May burst through the door and hugged Dawn.

"Congratulations! I told you, you could do it!" May cheered.

Drew nodded in agreement. "You did really well, you deserve that ribbon!" He smiled.

"Thanks! But now it's Paul's turn!"

May shook her head, "It's your turn to shine right now, Dawn. Paul will get his turn once he wins his badge." She looked at him then whispered. "Though I don't know if he would actually enjoy all the attention."

Dawn laughed, "Maybe he secretly likes it?" She shrugged her shoulders. Paul glared at her. "Aren't you going to congratulate me too?" Dawn asked.

"No."

Dawn frowned. "Oh, why not?"

"Because it was obvious that you were going to win. Your opponents were all pathetic, especially the last one."

"I can actually agree with him on that one." May giggled, Drew laughed also.

"Harley can actually be good, if he's not self centered before a battle."

"Maybe you should take your own advice." May muttered.

Drew rolled his eyes. "I'm never self centered." May rolled her eyes.

"How about we go now?" Dawn suggested, not wanting the two to fight again. "I'm sure Paul's itching to go and finally train. When is your battle?"

"Two weeks." He said.

Dawn nodded. "Then let's hurry and go!"


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **May 19** **th** **, 2006**

Dawn hurried out of bed, quickly getting dressed. She planned to make a nice breakfast today for everyone just like what Brock used to do for her and Ash. She wanted to go with something good but simple to make. So she was going to make pancakes, one of her favourite breakfast foods.

Dawn hurried into the kitchen and pulled on an apron. She was happy that any trainers were allowed to access the kitchens at any time to cook and bake. Dawn noticed a purple head of hair walking towards the Pokémon Center doors. "Paul!" She called out to him as she poured the pancake batter into a mixing bowl. "I'm making us all some pancakes for breakfast!"

Paul looked back at her. "I don't eat breakfast." He said.

"You're going to eat breakfast today. You need lots of strength and a healthy mind for traveling. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!" Dawn smiled at him. "They're only pancakes, I'll make them whatever way you want, oran berry, chocolate chip…"

"I don't want it. You can't make me eat it."

Dawn put down the bowl and placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe not, but I can always call the Fortree gym and postpone your match until I see you eat some breakfast."

He glared at her. "This is ridiculous; if I don't want to eat I'm not going to."

"You're right, it is ridiculous, but this argument will continue until you eat some breakfast. You're only going to waste more time arguing." Paul glared at her and walked over and sat at a table, the one farthest from where she was cooking. Dawn laughed lightly at his actions, sure he was eighteen, but he greatly resembled an eight year old. Her being two years younger, sixteen to be exact, she was much more mature, according to her. Dawn grinned; know exactly what to say to make him angry.

"Stop pouting, unless you want to keep reminding me of Ash." Paul glared at her again and pulled out his pokégear. It was a newer kind, much smaller; he seemed to be sending somebody a message, another new feature on them.

Dawn finished the batter and quickly made Paul's breakfast, knowing that he was antsy to go and train for a bit before they set out again for his battle. It was done quickly so she plated it and carried it over to him, along with a plastic jug of maple syrup. He was still staring at his pokégear and texting somebody.

"Who are you talking to?" She asked as she set the plate and syrup down in front of him.

"Reggie." He spat the name; he glared at the phone and sent another text, then muttered something.

"What's wrong?"

"He sent my pokémon to Lumiose and won't tell me why."

Dawn frowned. Why would Reggie send his pokémon away, to another region, one that was very far from Sinnoh? It was even stranger that he wouldn't tell Paul why he sent them away, it wasn't something Reggie would do. "Try calling him."

Paul picked up his fork and poured some syrup on his pancakes. "I don't want to talk to him right now. He wouldn't answer the phone."

"Does he know that we're all traveling together?"

"No." Paul eyed her. "Why?"

Dawn stood up, slamming her hands onto the table. "What if I called him then? He'd answer me right?"

Paul stared at her. "How did you get his number?"

"He gave it to me, he gave me yours too."

Paul glared at his pokégear when he heard that. "Depends if he's not fawning pathetically over Maylene."

"Are they dating?" Dawn clasped her hands together and squealed. Paul nodded his head once. "How cute!" She cooed. "Boyfriends should always fawn over their beautiful girlfriends!" Paul took a bite of his pancakes, his expression changed slightly, but quickly went back to a frown, and this didn't go unnoticed by Dawn, though she decided to keep quiet for now. "I'm going to call him now!" She pulled out her own pokégear and searched through her contacts, reaching the R's she found the name Reggie Robelldo. She clicked the name and held the pokégear up to her ear. She wasn't facing Paul but could see him watching her from the corner of her eye. The phone rang a few times then he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Reggie!"

The line was silent for a few minutes, he then spoke again. "Dawn? Is that you?"

"Yeah! It's me!"

"Oh, how are you?"

Dawn grinned and looked over at Paul. "I'm doing good! I'm preforming in contests in Hoenn right now and I'm traveling with a few old friends that I met through Ash a while ago. I got my first ribbon yesterday!"

"Really? That's great!" Reggie sounded genuinely happy, "Wait, you're in Hoenn?"

Dawn nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Yep. Oh I called because I had a question to ask you."

"Alright, what is it?" He sounded slightly wary.

Dawn grinned. "Is there any way that you can hold onto my pokémon for me, so I can catch new Hoenn pokémon?"

"Uh, I-ah, I actually can't at the moment, I'm full, sorry Dawn." Reggie didn't sound like he was telling the truth.

Dawn looked at Paul, he paused his eating and was looking at her. "Oh that's okay! I can probably put them into the PC then, thank you anyway!"

"Okay, have fun Dawn, goodbye!"

"Bye!" She said cheerily and hung up. "He said he didn't have any room, that he was full."

"Bull-"

"Don't swear!" Dawn chastised. "It's not a good habit!" Paul glared at her and continued to eat his breakfast. Dawn stood up, "When you're done can you go and get May and Drew?" Paul didn't answer. "I'll take that as a yes." She turned and went back to the batter, she was still wondering what Reggie was going on about with his care being supposedly full.

* * *

Paul sat under a tree as he watched his pokémon. Hariyama, Aagron, Weavile, Torterra, Electivire and Honchcrow. Torterra was at a disadvantage for the next gym, so was Hariyama. He wanted to switch out some of his pokémon to prepare for the next gym, but obviously that wouldn't work.

"Four on four." He muttered. His pokémon sat still as they watched him look each of them over. All he knew is that Torterra was not going to be used for sure. Hariyama too. "Pair up and fight. Don't get too tired for the afternoon."

The pokémon did as he instructed. Torterra was with Electivire. Hariyama with Weavile and Honchcrow with Aagron. They all started to fight as Paul watched to see who seemed to be at their best for today. Paul pulled out his pokédex and looked over all their stats.

"I think Dawn would let you use her Mamoswine if you asked, you know for more ice type moves."

Paul didn't bother looking up. What Drew had said was right; the cheerful blue haired girl probably would let him use her Mamoswine for one battle. Paul pushed the thought away. "My pokémon are stronger battlers."

"They are, but contest pokémon are just as strong too. I think my pokémon would be able to take yours on in a battle." Paul stared at the green haired man. Drew was the person that he got along the best with put of their group. He wasn't an overly annoying person and he never forced Paul to do things like the two girls did.

"What bulk do your pokémon have? They have flouncy attacks, not hard-hitting ones or even good status boosters."

"That doesn't change their skill, unless the only move they know is Splash."

"I'll just stick with using my own." He said as he scrolled through his pokédex.

Drew shrugged, "Do you know what you're going to do?"

Paul closed his pokédex, "I have an idea."

* * *

Dawn walked happily beside Paul. "Aren't you glad I made you eat breakfast now?"

Paul shrugged. "It just makes me not as hungry for lunch, I really don't care."

"Are you excited for your gym battle?"

"I've been to Hoenn before," Paul grumbled, "It's nothing new."

"I think you're excited."

"Think whatever you want." Dawn rolled her eyes and smiled down at Piplup, who copied her with a roll of his own eyes. They were heading down route 118, Dawn wanted to stay at the little beach that was on this route but they had no time, especially considering that they had to cross the water, over a bridge that was a little farther off to allow the small, but seemingly popular beach some privacy. There weren't many trees around but it was nice and grassy and there was also cool breeze.

"The bridge is this way." May said, pointing to a small pathway, "They just put it in recently so not many trainers have used it yet." Dawn looked over at Paul who had walked right past the pathway; he glanced at her before brushing past Dawn and walked along the very grassy path. Drew after him and then May. There was a flash of red and Dawn's Buneary appeared in front of her. Dawn smiled and set Piplup beside Buneary and together the three hurried to catch up with the others, Dawn still taking up the back. May looked behind her and smiled at the two pokémon before facing Drew's back again.

"How many routes do we have to pass through until we reach Fortree City?" Dawn asked.

"Just route 118 and 119. 119 is pretty long though, 118 is shorter thanks to the new bridge, we'll be out by the end of the day. We should reach the town in about five days if we keep going this speed." Drew replied.

"Maybe six because we left after lunch." May added. May was right, the sun was starting to set now, and they had just reached the bridge. There were big shrubs in the way of it so Paul called out his Weavile to cut them with its claws. "I think we should stop somewhere early on in route 119 for the night."

"That sounds like a good idea." Dawn nodded in agreement

"We need to wake up early tomorrow to make up for lost time." Paul grumbled as he stepped onto the bridge, it squeaked as he put his weight on it. "You're sure this is a new bridge?" He eyed May and Drew, "Hardly seems like it."

Drew nodded. "It is, it was made last year, obviously not many trainers have opted to actually use it."

"It's not stable." Paul said.

"You should walk on first Paul, you're the biggest one out of all of us, so you should go first. If it can hold up your weight than it can hold up ours." May added.

Paul gave her a look. "I appreciate you voicing your thoughts on something I was already planning on doing."

May narrowed her eyes at him. "Well if you voiced your thoughts first then I wouldn't have said anything."

Paul gave her another look and stepped onto the bridge. "Be careful Paul!" Paul didn't acknowledge her and kept on walking, holding onto the sides of bridge. With every step he took the bridge swayed from side to side.

Dawn let out a big sigh once Paul had reached the other side. Drew went after Paul and May after Drew. Finally it was Dawn's turn; she had brought both Piplup and Buneary into their pokéballs, just in case for their safety. Cautiously, Dawn stepped onto the rickety bridge, holding onto the sides until her knuckles turned white. There was a big gust of wind, making Dawn stop in her tracks for a moment. Dawn held her gaze on her three friends, keeping her focus off of the wind. Once it died down she began to walk on again. She finally reached the other side but another gust of wind knocked her back, a hand quickly shot out and grabbed her, pulling her back.

"You're not a piece of paper. Use your muscles." Paul let go of her.

"Sorry." Dawn said and scratched the back of her head.

May placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't apologise Dawn, I was knocked over too. They were big gusts of wind; we're just smaller and lighter than he is so we get blown away by the wind easier."

Dawn nodded. "You're right."

May smiled. "Paul's just upset because we didn't leave earlier."

Dawn laughed, "You know, Paul really is just like Ash, they're both persistent and have to get to the next gym quickly, they both have ants in their pants and have to keep moving."

"The only difference is that Ash is nicer."

"We're on route 119 now." Drew said, "Let's set up camp under those trees there."

"We're waking up early tomorrow." Paul said. "I'm leaving if you're not up in time." He set down his bag and began to sift through it.

"Don't worry, we will!" Dawn said cheerily.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **May 22** **nd** **, 2006 (Ash's 17** **th** **Birthday)**

Dawn pulled her hand in front of her mouth and let out a loud hoarse cough. Paul quickly covered his mouth and coughed too. The group wasn't too far from Fortree thankfully; Dawn and Paul both felt like they were dying to put it into simple terms. Somehow both Paul and Dawn had caught an awful cold, their noses were extremely stuffy and runny, blowing them every few minutes, their muscles ached, their throats were swollen and sore, and awful, awful coughs. May and Drew decided to keep their distance from the two, they were certainly not interested in catching whatever they had. They were out of medicine and needed some; they've been sick for a few days and barely slept at all.

"Is that-" Dawn got cut off by another bout of coughs. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Is that Fortree?" Her voice sounded funny because of the sickness too.

May and Drew, who were walking a good distance in front of Dawn and Paul, not only to avoid their germs but also because both sick people were awfully slow currently. "It is." May said, "The Pokémon Center is the first building you see when you walk into town. I suggest that you two get a room and sleep while Drew and I go get your medicine and restock our supplies."

"Okay." Dawn mumbled. "I want a comfy bed." She rubbed her eyes. "I just wanna sleep." Paul grunted, supposedly in agreement. He hasn't spoken much since he got sick, usually the only noise you heart from him were simple yes or no answers or coughs.

The group walked past a huge sign reading, 'Welcome to Fortree City – The city that frolics with nature.' Dawn felt herself sigh once she saw the sign, though her sigh changed into a cough, Paul coughed not too long after. May winced at the harsh sound, "We need to get you two some bed rest." May pointed ahead of her. "See, the Pokémon Center is right there! We'll get some rooms so you can sleep."

"I really wanna sleep." Dawn said.

"I know." May felt like she was talking to a pair of children. "Look, the doors are right there, just hold on. We're going in now." Together the four walked into the Pokémon Center and up to the front desk.

"Welcome to the Fortree City Pokémon Center! How may I help you?" The Nurse Joy asked cheerily.

Dawn and Paul both coughed again, Dawn doubling over as hers was worse this time. "Can we have two rooms with two beds inside?" Drew asked eying both trainers, "Our friends need to rest."

Nurse Joy frowned, "Oh dear, I'm sorry but we only have two rooms with a single bed left. However the couches do fold out into a bed."

"That's fine." Drew said.

Nurse Joy nodded and handed him two sets of keys. "Okay, here you go. I hope you have a nice stay!"

May took one of the keys from Drew and led the way to the elevator that would take them to the second floor. "You two are staring a room until you get better. Drew and I don't want to get whatever you have." The good thing about Paul being sick was that he didn't argue as much, which made life much easier for May and Drew. May unlocked the door and herded Dawn inside, she was going to lead Paul in too but he avoided her hand, walking around her. "Just lay down and we'll get you the medicine." Dawn and Paul both nodded and May quickly closed the door. Paul laid himself down on the couch, coughing again.

"What are you doing? You can have the bed. You're sick." Dawn said, placing her bag on the ground.

"You're sick too idiot. Just give me a pillow." Paul mumbled. Dawn frowned and walked over to him, grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him off, it was harder to do because she was much weaker right now. Paul pulled his arm from her grasp. "Stop being stupid, just take the bed."

"That's not fair though, you're sick too. Go take the bed."

"The couch pulls out into a bed, just give me a pillow."

Dawn shook her head, looking towards the bed she noticed that it was king sized. "We can both fit on there without touching each other. Just take half the bed."

"I'm fine on the couch."

Dawn opened her mouth to speak but coughed again. She cleared her throat and attempted to speak again. "Just take half the bed. I won't stop bothering you until you do." Paul didn't move, "Paul…" Dawn complained and grabbed his arm again, trying to pull him off of the couch. "Why do you have to be so heavy?" She muttered. Paul tried to pull his arm away but Dawn held it tightly. "Just take half the bed."

Paul opened an eye. "Let go, I'm not taking the bed. Stop wasting energy."

"I'm not going to leave you alone until you do!" Paul thought for a moment, all he wanted to do was sleep, and he did want to sleep on the bed rather than the very uncomfortable couch. Paul pulled his arm out of her hands and walked over to the closest side of the bed. Laying down on it, keeping his eyes closed. He didn't dare look at the overjoyed expression Dawn no doubt had on her face. Paul could feel the bed move beside him, bending under Dawn's weight. He could feel her crawl under the blankets and finally let out a big sigh. Paul adjusted his position slightly, though he was too tired to care, he could already feel the pull of sleep.

* * *

May unlocked the door, holding a paper bag full of stuff, Drew had gone into their room so he could unlock the door joining the two rooms together. May almost dropped her bag at the sight she saw. Dawn and Paul were not only sharing a bed, but were in a close embrace. Dawn's face couldn't be seen because of her hair and because her face was also hidden by Paul's sweater. Her face was pressed right up against his shoulder while Paul had his head resting on top of hers. He had his arms wrapped right around her too. May set the paper bag down on the table and whipped around to the door she heard Drew unlocking. Once he opened it May flew forward and covered his mouth.

" _Shhh!_ " Drew stared at her bewildered. May grinned and pointed to the two sleeping sick people. "Isn't that cute?" She whispered. Drew eyed the two.

"What?" He eventually said. "I don't really see a problem other than Paul actually giving someone affection…" Drew just stared at the two, really unsure what to think of them, though he was happy to see Paul even caring for someone, even if it could be unintentional.

"It's cute!" May repeated. "I want to cuddle with somebody like that someday, don't you?" She turned to him with a smile.

Drew nodded. "Yeah… I do."

May walked over to the paper bag, taking out the medicine and a few food objects that were easy on the stomach. Drew watched her every movement, unbeknownst to her. May crumpled up the bag, freezing once she realised what she had done, she turned to look at Paul and Dawn and let out a breath once she saw that they were still fast asleep. May smiled again. "Hopefully they'll have a good long sleep."

* * *

Dawn snuggled closer to the warmth, she had a good sleep and was feeling much better after some rest, her throat had cleared up and wasn't sore anymore. Her eyes quickly opened as she coughed, though she couldn't move her arm to cover her mouth, it was restricted by something. Dawn's eyes widened once she realised what, or rather _who_ , was actually restricting her movement. She couldn't help but blush at the current circumstance; it was strange, Paul never touched anybody unless it was needed, like when he prevented her from falling off the cliff after crossing the bridge onto route 119. Though the circumstance she was in was embarrassing, she didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest, she was very comfortable.

Dawn raised her head slightly, the room was still dark. She glanced toward the digital clock that she saw earlier, though it was easy to see the bright red shining numbers in the darkness. It was nearing six in the morning, leaving them both sleeping for over ten hours. Even with the long sleep Dawn felt very tired, there wasn't much she could do when her body moved out of command, cuddling back up against Paul and falling asleep once again. She was warm and felt very, very safe.

* * *

 **May 23** **rd** **, 2006**

A loud alarm rang through the night. Paul immediately sat up, Dawn jumping up next to him. She turned and looked at him with wide eyes. "Paul what's happening?"

Paul shook his head. "I don't know."

May burst through the door that joined their two rooms, "Get the stuff off of the counter and into your bags. We need to leave, now." Drew appeared next to her, both were still in their pyjamas.

"What's happening?" Dawn asked. She hurried to get her bag while Paul grabbed the stuff off of the table and into his bag, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Check for your pokéballs." Drew instructed. "This is an evacuation alarm, though it's usually in places near the ocean, for tsunamis."

"We're nowhere near the ocean." Paul stated checking his belt, while Dawn dug through her bag, sighing when she counted six total pokéballs.

"There can be more emergencies than just tsunamis."

The four hurried down the stairs, the lobby of the Pokémon Center was packed with people. They were ushered by a Chansey towards a door. There was a massive line up and a group of Police Officers were lined up at the door, each having a trainer sign papers and show their identification before having them leave the building.

"Hoenn Natives please line up over here!" One officer shouted over the noise. "Any others line up in the shortest line!"

May and Drew looked at the two, "We'll be fine." Drew assured, "Just follow their orders." With that Drew grabbed May's hand and pulled her to the Hoenn Natives line.

Dawn stepped closer to Paul; thankfully he didn't seem to mind at the moment and didn't move away from her. "Paul, what do you think is happening?"

Paul shrugged, "I have no idea." People shoved past Dawn, pushing her even closer to Paul. It got to a point of chaos where Paul pulled her in front of himself and had his hand securely on her shoulders; she was as close to him as she was when they were sleeping. She blushed as she remembered the awkward moment. People kept pushing past them, and then were pushed back by more officers.

Eventually it was Dawn's turn to talk to the officer. The man had her sit down at a table. She looked over at Paul who was watching her closely.

"Where are you from?" The man asked.

"Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh."

"What are your means of traveling to Hoenn?"

Dawn quickly covered her mouth because of a cough then answered, "I wanted to compete in the Grand Festival."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

The man pushed papers towards her. "You are old enough to not need parent consent as a pokémon trainer. You must sign this paper saying that once you arrive in the Kalos region you are to be interrogated by Kalos officials."

"Kalos?" Dawn said in a panicked tone, "What am I going to Kalos?"

"Classified information. You may be told once you arrive at your destination."

Dawn looked at Paul again who nodded to her to sign the papers. She took the pen from beside the papers and signed her name on different lines. The man looked over the papers once she was done, nodding. "You will be escorted out of the building and will be directed to the airport."

"What about my friends?"

"If they are from Hoenn or Sinnoh than they will be headed to Kalos. However if they come from Kanto, Johto, the Orange Archipelago or the Sevii Islands they will be sent to Unova. Take your leave." Dawn stood up, her arm was grabbed by another officer, she looked behind her at Paul who kept his gaze on her while he moved to go and sit with the man.

"Ma'am, you have to head to the Fortree airport, it's down by the gym." Dawn nodded and watched Paul for another moment before she was pushed away by the officer.

There were other people walking, walking through underbrush, nobody was using the bridges. Since she didn't know the layout of the city, she followed the other trainers. A hand touched her shoulder; Dawn looked over and saw that it was Drew.

"Where's May?" Dawn asked.

Drew shrugged, "She went before me, I have no idea."

"I don't know where Paul went either, he made me go first."

He nodded and manoeuvred Dawn past a large group of people who were arguing with Officer Jenny. "Do you know what's happening?"

"Hoenn's under attack by terrorists. Bombs were going off in Slateport, Mauville and even by Victory Road." Dawn felt her heart drop. "Petalburg was also bombed."

"May's family..." Dawn muttered. "Did they tell May?"

"I don't think so. I heard her tell the officer that her father was the gym leader. Don't say anything to her." Drew instructed. "We're already forced out of our region and the news of her home would make it worse. May isn't as strong as she seems. Right now we're all she has."

They reached the airport and surprisingly not many people were inside as they were outside. "A flight just left." Drew noted. He kept a hold on her shoulder and walked them both to a full body scanner. Dawn noticed a head of purple hair on the other side, a shorter brown one beside it. It looked as if the shorter brown haired one was clinging into the other's arm.

"Paul!" Dawn shouted.

Paul turned around and looked at them. "Drew, Dawn!" May shouted from beside Paul, it was strange seeing her holding onto Paul's arm the way she was. Even stranger that Paul was letting her do so.

They made their way to a surprisingly open full body scan. Drew stepped forward, placing his bag on a conveyer belt and took off his pokéballs and placing them in a separate box. He handed the worker an identification card. He stepped through and there was no loud beeping noise, the airport worker nodded to him to pick up his stuff while Dawn placed hers down the exact same way he did. She handed the worker her trainer id and her pokédex. She took out her hair clips and placed them in her bag before stepping through herself, and there was no beeping noise. She waited a moment while the worker looked at her bag contents and nodded for her to proceed. She collected her stuff and hurried to go and join the other three. May had now let go of Paul and the four were awkwardly standing. More people were entering the airport, making it louder and stuffier.

"The next flight is in ten minutes, we have to take that one." Paul said. "Terminal three." Dawn coughed and nodded to him and the four made their way over. There was another line and another airport worker was standing. She requested their id and pokédexes if they owned one, or extra identification if they didn't. Each one of them gave the necessary items and were allowed to board the plane.

"Sinnoh Natives stay to the left of the plane while Hoenn Natives stay to the right please. It makes our work easier on board. Please hold onto small bags and put bigger ones up into the compartments, we are making extra room in the luggage area of the plane, please do not argue wherever you are placed, safety precautions will be made for where you are seated."

Dawn was confused by the first seating rule but nodded. She was the one who led the way to the plane. An attendant was standing by the plane's doors. "Please take the first open seat you see, do not save seats for people who are not currently present." Dawn nodded again and began walking up the aisle; Paul pushed her to a row that wasn't full yet.

"She said take the first ones."

"Just sit there." Paul said. Dawn didn't argue and moved down the row, sitting in the window seat, Paul sat next to her. She looked around for May and Drew and saw them sitting farther behind them, the right side of the plane was filled more than the left, though that was to be expected.

The plane filled up with people quickly; there were many people, from nervous, crying ten-year olds to elders who were trying to soothe the upset young trainers. Dawn wanted to help but she wasn't able to get out of her seat, many people blocked her from the closest crying child. "I want to help them so bad." She said, "Imagine just starting out your journey and being forced out of your region because of terrorists."

"Terrorists?" Paul looked at her.

She nodded, "The officer Drew was with told him. There's been bombing all over Hoenn, Mauville, Slateport, Petalburg, May's family lives there, her parents and brother." Dawns said quietly. Suddenly her heart plummeted. There was sharp pain of dread in the bottom of her stomach. "Kenny…" She whipped her head around to face Paul, her eyes were wide. "Kenny was in Pertalburg! What if he's…?" She couldn't bring herself to actually say it. Her eyes stung and she placed her hands over her eyes, she could feel her tears slip out and wet her hands. She couldn't help but cry, her childhood best friend could be dead for all she knew. The crying didn't help her throat or nose any, making her cough more and having an incredible stuffy and running nose, she hardly paid any attention to the mess she was, she was too upset to care.

Dawn couldn't help the memories of her kindergarten days with Kenny and Leona, when they would play together outside and after school. She even though fondly of the moment she got the nickname 'DeeDee' or in long terms Diamond Dandruff. She didn't hate the nickname; not really, it was nice having a nickname from a close friend that was at a personal event with her, it made it even more special many years later. There was a pressure on her shoulder, it was Paul's hand.

"I'm sure he's fine." Paul said. "He may be stupid, but I doubt he'd actually be killed. He actually has a decent Empoleon to protect him if he needed it to."

"He could have been sleeping when it happened Paul; it's only seven-thirty!" She used the heels of her hands to wipe off her tears, then her nose. "Please Kenny…" She whispered.

"Please buckle in passengers, we will be taking flight." A male's voice said over the intercom. The plane immediately quieted down while a flight attendant went around checking that people were putting on their seatbelts. Dawn wiped her tears again and grabbed a hold of her seatbelt, bringing it across herself and strapping it in. Paul was right, Kenny might be okay, she needed to think positively and focus on herself for now even if it was a hard thing to do.

Suddenly another thought occurred to her, "Why aren't they sending any of us home? If we come from Sinnoh wouldn't it just be easier to fly us back there and not to another region?" She wiped her eyes and looked at Paul again. "Is something happening in the other regions too?"

Paul shrugged, "I have no idea, I was told that we were going to get more information once we arrived in Kalos."

"I was told that too." She muttered. "Ash!"

Paul looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What does he have to do with this?" Suddenly the plane lurched forward, obviously starting to take flight. Paul dug through his bag and took out a pack of gum, taking a piece for himself and another for Dawn, handing it to her which she gladly took.

"Ash is traveling through Kalos! He told me that he was going there next!" She frowned and stuck the piece of gum in her mouth, "But I can't contact him while we're flying. I don't even know where we're landing. Ash is also busy getting his badges…" She broke out in another bout of rough coughing; she could hear Paul trying to keep his quiet.

"It's still somebody who can help us." Paul scowled, no matter how much he disliked Ash; he'd be lying if he said that he was no help. Ash was the type of person who would do anything and everything to help anybody in need, and that's what they needed right now even if he was insanely annoying to Paul. Hopefully he's changed in the five years that they haven't seen each other, though Paul felt that was a hopeful stretch.

There was another loud ringing noise, and presumably the pilot spoke again. "Ladies and gentlemen, please stay in your seat for the next hour, we're going to cut this flight as short as we can, we are going to reach Kalos in two and a half hours if we are making good speed. Staying in your seat will ensure your safety for the duration of the flight. Thank you." Dawn leaned back in her chair. She might as well try and catch up on sleep as much as she can.

* * *

Dawn was chewing on another piece of gum Paul had given her. The pilot was right; they had made the flight in over two and a half hours; he was close though, cutting the regular flight time from six hours almost in half. She was very glad that nothing bad happened on their flight over. They had landed safely in Lumiose City; it was easy to tell because of the city's giant Prism Tower that also worked as a pokémon gym, according to a young trainer whom she had overheard talking. It wasn't hard to do that because once all the young trainers calmed down, their plane ride was very quiet. Dawn wondered if Ash had already beaten that particular gym yet.

Everyone from the flight was instructed to wait in a line for more identification and background checks, separated into different lines, Hoenn in one area while Sinnoh was in another, though this time they were allowed to be in pairs if needed as long as one was of adult age in the region, like Paul was. Young trainers were not considered adults, just more independent minors, given a little more leeway with laws, such as flight or not needing parent consent, like Dawn back in Hoenn, than people who were not trainers. Dawn didn't feel that Paul needed to be there with her. But Paul insisted that he should be, since Paul stated that this interrogation would be much more intense than it would have been the first time back in Hoenn, that that one was just brief to make sure that they were able to fly out of the region for their safety, now it would be full background checks and a deep analysis.

It was their turn next and they entered the room, there was an inspector sitting in a chair with papers in front of her and a pen. A man was standing in the corner watching the two intensely. She nodded for the two to sit opposite of herself. Dawn took the seat on the right while Paul took the one on the left.

The lady smiled at the two, she had black hair and dark skin. "You may call me Essentia; could you please tell me your names and ages?"

"I'm Dawn Berlitz and I'm sixteen."

"Paul Robelldo, eighteen."

She nodded and wrote this down on two different sheets of paper. "I assume you're both from Sinnoh since you have come to me," She smiled slightly at them. "Can you tell me what city you live in?"

Dawn nodded. "I'm from Twinleaf Town."

"Veilstone." Paul answered.

Essentia nodded again and wrote this down. "What relation do you two have with each other?"

"We've known each other for five years, we met on our journeys in Sinnoh, and we're traveling together in Hoenn with two others." Paul replied. "The other two were from Hoenn."

Essentia looked them over; she seemed to be around the same age as Paul and Dawn. "What is your trainer occupation?"

"I'm a coordinator." Dawn replied. "I was in Hoenn to compete in the Grand Festival."

Essentia cast her blue gaze onto Paul. "I'm a league trainer."

She pushed papers towards them. "I want you to fill out any contact information you can give us regarding family members, guardians, or caregivers." Dawn looked down at the sheet and began to fill out her mother's name and other personal information, then handed the sheet back to her, Paul was finished his soon after her, though he took a little longer to fill his out despite both of them only had one name to fill out.

They were asked many more questions, and halfway through an interesting pokémon appeared, apparently called Mimi, Dawn was unsure if this was the pokémon's legitimate name or a nickname. Either way they were done now, the interrogation wasn't as bad as Paul made it seem, but she was still glad that he was there.

In about another hour May and Drew had finished their interviews and the four were getting ready to leave and hopefully find a room in the Pokémon Center or in one of the many hotels that were in Lumiose. Suddenly a large weight tackled Dawn to the ground, her head bounching off of the hard tile flooring, she felt her ankle move in a way it shouldn't have. Dawn struggled to push the weight off her but it was futile, she could see a dark uniform on the person. They grabbed a hold of her neck and started to push down on her windpipe. Dawn could feel her eyes bulge out and heat slowly turning her face red. She could barely hear the screams in the background. Dawn kept squirming, trying to get the offender off of her; however the offender was much heavier than her, crushing her ribs. She could see her vision start to tunnel but she wasn't going to give up. Somehow Dawn had pulled an arm free and swung it in the face of the person on top of her. The weight was lifted off of her, she gasped for breath and something yanked her arm upwards, she quickly stood up, stumbling a bit as an intense pain rocketed through her ankle. Dawn struggled to regain her breath, holding onto whoever was helping her stand upright tightly. A light flashed in each of her eyes, making her flinch.

"She doesn't have a concussion." A voice said. "And I don't think her ankle's broken." Her vision cleared slightly and she saw a person standing in front of her with a flashlight while security guards held back five people all dressed the same, in a plain dark shirt and pants. Dawn looked behind her and could see her friends battered too. May had big scratches on her face and arms; she was the one holding onto Dawn, while Drew's eye was all red, blood coming from a cut on his head. She looked to her other side and saw Paul holding onto one of his arms and blood seeping out from his nose. "Are you feeling okay?" The man who had the flashlight asked her. Dawn swallowed, though it was extremely hard and painful before nodding. The man nodded and asked the others brief questions before deeming them fit to leave if they wished, apparently this guy was a doctor. The security guards hauled the five individuals, leading them down a hallway separate from the rest of the airport.

"Take my bag." Paul said, handing it to May.

"But she needs help walking!"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Paul said and crouched down in front of her, "Get on my back, it'll be easier."

"But your arm." Dawn's voice was hoarse and funny, even more so than with her sickness. "I saw you holding it."

"It was only dislocated, its fine now, just get on so we can leave." Dawn climbed up onto his back, he stood up and adjusted her before beginning to walk, Drew was carrying her bag for her.

"Tissues are in my bag." She said. "For your nose and your head." She looked at Drew, "Front pocket." Drew pulled her bag up and unzipped it, ignoring the other certain necessities she had in there and pulled out a small bag of tissues, pulling a few out. Dawn held her arm out. "I can wipe his nose for him."

"Don't bother." Paul said. Drew still handed Dawn some and she looked over his shoulder, wiping away some of the blood. "I told you not to."

"Paul just shut up and actually let somebody help you for once." May snapped. "I'd be thankful for somebody to help me clean up my blood." She muttered something quiet after that. Paul shot her a glare but stayed silent as Dawn continued to wipe away the blood from his face.

The four walked for a long time, struggling to find where the hotels were placed. Lumiose was much bigger than any city in Sinnoh, even Jubilife or Hearthome or Sunnyshore. May even claimed it to be bigger than Slateport. If Paul's back hurt from carrying Dawn, he didn't say anything about it, though Dawn could see May begin to walk funny, probably because of sore feet.

"Paul?!" A voice shouted. Paul stopped in his tracks; Dawn could feel his grip tighten on her slightly. "What the… Dawn? May and Drew too?" Dawn looked behind her, Paul didn't turn around, he was too busy angrily glaring at the ground in front of him. He didn't want to see the speaker, let alone have them see him in such a condition as he was.

"Ash…" Dawn couldn't help the tears that escaped her eyes. "Put me down Paul." She instructed and he listened, placing her on the ground gently, she was still holding onto the bloody tissues. May had run forward and enveloped Ash in a hug, Dawn was making her way over as fast as she could to give him one too, ignoring the three very confused blondes behind him. Ash wrapped an arm around her waist and held her tightly. He had grown since the last time she saw him in person, more muscular too. She swore that she could even see tiny bit of stubble on the bottom of his chin. Yes she had seen him in Unova not too long ago but he still looked very different from then. She felt very safe hugging her best friend again.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **May 23** **rd** **, 2006**

Dawn held onto Ash as tightly as she could, she was so happy to see him again. "What happened to you guys?" Ash asked pulling away a bit to look over both girls. "You're holding a bloody kleenex too Dawn!"

"That's Paul's," Dawn rasped, Ash frowned at her voice. "It's a long story." Ash looked behind him at the three blonde people standing there.

"We could take them back to our house?" The blond boy with glasses said.

"Clemont look!" The little blonde girl squealed, dashing forward and going down on one knee, holding both arms out in the direction of May and Dawn. "You're both so beautiful, would you please take care of my brother, after he takes care of you of course?" Her bright blue eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Bonnie!" The blond boy, Clemont, hissed. "I told you a million times to stop it! It's not funny, I can find one on my own!" A big metal hand shot out of his backpack and picked the girl up off of the ground, bringing her close to him. Bonnie pouted and stuck her nose up into the air. The other blonde girl bent down and began to talk to Bonnie, though much too quiet for anyone to hear.

Ash watched the three behind him for a moment then spoke, "Going back to your place would be really helpful Clemont." Bonnie cheered up at the sound of that.

"Dedenne we get to see my daddy again!" A small pokémon that slightly resembled a Pikachu popped out of the girl's yellow bag.

"De ne ne ne!"

Ash smiled at the young girl, then looked over Dawn's shoulder at both Paul and Drew who had not spoken yet. "Why is Paul with you guys?"

"Long story." Dawn repeated, "Sorry but can we hurry to that house? I'd like to rest my ankle." At that remark Paul stepped over to Dawn and crouched down in front of her, not without sending Ash a glare. Dawn laughed lightly and climbed back onto his back. "Thanks Paul." He didn't reply to her.

The group followed Clemont and Bonnie as they led the way to their house. It was bear Central Lumiose near the big city gym. They lived in a big apartment building, much like how the majority of Lumiose did, though their home was over a mechanical shop, one that Bonnie had declared happily that it belonged to her father. In order to reach the house, they had to go up a flight of stairs inside the building's wall. Clemont pushed open the door. "You can all have a shower if you want. There's only one bathroom though. You can also sleep her if you want but we have no available beds." He scratched his head, "I actually mostly live in the Lumiose Tower, and Bonnie only has a small bed."

"Why do you live in the Lumiose Tower?" Drew asked.

Paul walked into the Living room area and set Dawn down on the corner couch that was in there. "Clemont's the Lumiose gym leader!" Ash replied for him. "But can you guys tell me why you're in Kalos and why you're all beat up?"

May looked to the others, "Can you explain it while I shower?" Drew nodded to her and she sighed. "Thanks."

"I'll show you the bathroom!" Bonnie smiled up at her, grabbing May's hand and pulling her away.

"Do you have any ice packs?" Paul asked. "She sprained her ankle." He nodded towards Dawn. Clemont nodded and placed his bag down onto the ground, hurrying away to their supposed kitchen.

Drew sat down next to Dawn. "I'll tell you." Drew went into a long story, explaining how the four began to travel together right up until their quick flight to Kalos, talking about the various bombing attacks happening all throughout the region. He explained what happened at the airport as well. By the end of his story, Paul and Dawn had also had their own showers. Serena offered to help Dawn enter and exit the shower, Dawn accepted the offer, not really caring if Serena saw her body. May had fallen asleep, curled up in a corner of the couch.

Ash scratched Pikachu's ears while he sat on the floor, listening intently. "You're serious?"

"Do you honestly think we're lying?" Paul asked him harshly. "How could we make up a story as ridiculous as that? There's people from Hoenn and Sinnoh all over this city. Unova's not much better; they get all the western regions to take care of."

"Why wouldn't they just send you all back to your home regions?"

Dawn adjusted her position on the couch in between Drew and Paul. "Reggie sent all of Paul's pokémon here to Kalos and didn't tell him why. I think something bad is happening to every region except for the two getting the people who were evacuated."

"That means Kanto too right?"

Paul rubbed his head. "Yes, we already said that."

Ash jumped up. "Oh mew. He hurried to his bag and pulled out his own pokégear that he had finally decided to get. He walked into a separated room, tapping wildly on the screen.

"Kanto?" Bonnie said, having refused to leave during the conversation. "Ash is from there right? So him mom is there and all his pokémon. He even said that his four first friends live there, including Misty!"

"Misty?" May asked, "Have you met her too?"

Bonnie shook her head, "No, but she and Ash just started dating not too long ago, just before he came to Kalos." Bonnie answered. Dawn couldn't help but notice the slightly dejected look on Serena's face, which also caused Clemont to look over at her with an odd expression.

"Ash never told me that!" Dawn said. "I'm actually mad that he didn't."

"He didn't tell me either." May said.

Clemont scratched the back of his head. "How about Serena and I go and make some food?" He suggested.

Serena stood up and nodded. "Sure, I can also make poképuffs!"

"Poképuffs?" Dawn asked, "What are those?"

Bonnie pulled out a pastry from her bag, "This is a poképuffs!" She handed it to Dedenne who was sitting on a small coffee table, Dedenne nibbled it happily.

"They kind of look like poffins!" Dawn said. "That's interesting!"

Serena nodded, "I've heard of poffins before. They are similar but are still very different. I can make all the pokémon some." She smiled and walked into the kitchen after Clemont.

Ash returned, though he had his pokégear held up to his ear. "Cilan!" He called out, "I need you to do me a huge favour!" He paused for a moment and spoke again. "Can you and Iris go to Mistralton City? There's been a huge attack on most western regions so I need you to pick up my mom and a few other people. Well more like fifteen. Their all family and it's really important that you do." Ash lets out a huge sigh, "Thanks. They might into stay there long; they're going to try to come to Kalos." He paused again. "Really Cilan, thanks." He then pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped the screen a bit more before putting it back in his pocket. "You were right Dawn, for Kanto and Johto at least."

"Fifteen people?" Drew asked.

Ash nodded, "Yeah, my mom, Professor Oak, Gary, Misty and her sisters, Brock and all his siblings…"

"We get it." Paul spoke.

"Paul," Dawn said, he looked over at her, "Maybe you should call you brother and see if he came here too?"

"He still won't answer. I'm mad at him and he's probably keeping the reason why he sent my pokémon here away from me."

"It's been a week Paul, you should call him." Dawn stood up, putting little weight on her foot. A tickle surfaced in her throat and she quickly covered her mouth while she coughed harshly. "I'm going to try and call me mom. Maybe I can try and call Kenny too." She started to walk towards her bag to grab her pokégear out from inside. Pikachu quickly jumped up and scurried to get her bag for her. Dawn smiled and sat back down on the couch. "Thanks Pikachu. I bet you want to see Piplup right and Buneary?"

Pikachu sat back and scratched the back of his head, "Pi pikachu... pikapi." He looked over at Ash who didn't seem to notice his partner's slight discomfort.

"Yeah! Bring them out Dawn!"

Dawn smiled at her friend's enthusiasm and pulled out the two pokéballs from her bag, releasing the two in a flash of red light. Piplup posed It it's flippers on its hips while Buneary spotted Pikachu and shied away from him, hiding behind Piplup.

Pikachu waved and moved closer to the two. Piplup seemed happier seeing Pikachu again. Buneary was hiding her face in her fur and moved even further behind Piplup. Even though Pikachu seemed slightly uncomfortable at first, he now seemed confused at Buneary's shy actions.

Dawn looked away from the pokémon and typed in her home number, holding the pokégear up to her ear. There were no ringing noises, just continuous beeps. She tried again several times and got the same result. "The call won't go through."

Paul took it from her hands and held it up to his ear. "The line's been cut off."

"What do you mean it's been cut off?" She stared at him, "Call your brother."

Paul rolled his eyes and held her pokégear up to his ear, not bothering with picking up his own. There was a few moments of silence before he handed it back to Dawn, "It's the same with Reggie." He pulled out his own and dialled the number, and once again got the same answer, multiple beeps. "Give me yours. "He held his hand out to Ash who frowned but handed him his anyway. Ash's didn't work either. "Phone lines might have been cut off."

"Do you think the call would go through if I tried calling Kenny?" Dawn asked. She couldn't help the sadness that came with Paul's words; it just made her worry about her mother more, and the other people she knew that lived in Sinnoh, even Conway.

"Depends on where he is, lines in Hoenn could have been turned off, or if the main phone company buildings were in the cities that had been bombed, most likely they either exploded, or the satellite connection was ruined. He could be on a plane, or his pokégear could have been destroyed since he was in one of the cities that got bombed."

"What?" Ash jumped up, "You're kidding me right? Kenny was in Hoenn and was in a city that was _bombed_?"

Paul rolled his eyes. "Once again, are you an idiot? How could we possibly make this stuff up?"

Ash gripped the sides of his head and groaned. "When I called Misty she said that Kanto was evacuated too, but she never mentioned bombing, she said that there was lots of pokémon acting really weird, like attacking people and stuff. She said that none of her pokémon or mine turned all weird but two of Brocks did and one of Tracey's did and lots of Gary's did, like five or six."

"You could have said that earlier." Paul muttered. "But that all regions, except for Unova and Kalos, are in an unstable position and that's why we were not sent home."

"You brother might have sent your pokémon here because of whatever is happening in Sinnoh, started before the situation in Hoenn." Drew said. "He wouldn't tell you why right? I think that seems like a pretty valid answer to me."

Paul leaned back into the couch, "Probably. He didn't even tell me where he sent them to, just that they're in this region."

"Oh!" Bonnie turned her head to look at the purple haired man, abandoning Dedenne who was holding onto a small red ball, giving her a sour look. "They're probably at Professor Sycamore's lab!"

Paul looked the young girl over, she didn't even seem of trainer age yet. "How old are you?" He asked her.

"I'm nine! Why?" She tilted her head to the side, bright blue eyes shining with curiosity. She reminded him of a young pichu, her blonde hair added to the resemblance.

"That's not you pokémon is it?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't think you should be listening to this conversation."

Bonnie's cheeks puffed out as a frown graced her face, "No, Dedenne is my brother's pokémon. He caught it for me, Dedenne is going to be my pokémon soon, once I turn ten, and I think I can listen because I'm going to be a trainer soon. I know lots of stuff from my big brother. He's super-duper smart!"

Paul could tell that this girl had recently turned nine, still having a childlike innocence to her that many people lost once they started traveling on their own. "Where is this professor's lab?"

"Just south. It's right by one of our Pokémon Centers." She jumped up. "Just to prove that I'm an adult, I'll lead you to the lab!" Dedenne scurried up onto her shoulders and sat atop her head.

"De ne ne ne!"

"I think I can find it on my own." Paul stood up and picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. He could hear Dawn start to get up, "You're not coming."

Dawn frowned and crossed her arms, "Why not?" She covered he mouth and coughed.

"Did you actually already forget about your ankle?"

Dawn blushed in embarrassment and sat back down, looking away from him. "No."

"Don't worry Miss Dawn!" Bonnie grinned, "I'm going with him and he can't stop me!" She grabbed his hand and begun to pull him out of the room, "I'll be right back Clemont!" She shouted and raced out the door, closing it with a slam.

"You can let go of my hand." Paul muttered.

"No way!" Bonnie said, "Lumiose is a big city, you could get lost!"

"I don't think I'm going to get lost."

Bonnie giggled, "Are you sure? Ash has gotten lost in Lumiose before."

Paul rolled his eyes, "That's not exactly a hard thing for him to do. He's an idiot, of course he's gotten lost."

Bonnie laughed harder, "I guess so, buuuut," she drawled out, "Ash is a million time nicer than you are Mr. Grumpypants! Why not be happy and smile? Scowling will leave you with wrinkle lines!"

"Well you were listening to our conversation before; this isn't really a time to be smiling or happy."

Bonnie paused no longer walking, her grip on Paul's hand tightened slightly. "So?" Her eyes shone determinedly, "Just because something bad is happening right now doesn't mean that you can't smile, don't let bad problems take over your thoughts, there will always be a light that can make you smile, even if it's just a little bit. You only have to look for it." She squeezed his hand and started to pull him to the left side of the street. "We gotta pass through Bleu Plaza, Plaza Bleu est ma place préférée, parce que il est très beau, plus que les autres places!"

Paul stared at her, "What?"

Bonnie smiled up at him, "C'est un secret, mais je vais vous dire." She held back her laughter at his annoyed face. "I said, Blue Plaza is my favourite plaza because it's the prettiest out of all of them!"

"How about you speak so I can understand you."

"Aw, vous n'êtes pas amusant."

Paul gave her a look and she just smiled up at him innocently. Bonnie pulled him down a small alleyway, the closest building read, 'Lumiose Press', "I wonder if Alexa's in there." He heard her murmur, then they stepped into a round area that had a big blue statue in the middle. "Each Plaza has a statue like this one in it; each of them is named after the colour of the statue." To the side he could see two girls battling, one had a Kirlia and the other had a Magmar, the trainer with the Magmar seemed to have one egg in her hand and another one in her bag. Paul though it was strange. Bonnie pulled him down another alleyway, not the one the two battling trainers were occupying. "Lots of battles happen in Lumiose, people pretend to be lost and trick people into battles so that they can get help finding their way."

They stepped out onto a large street, with quite a few cars driving, there were people riding pokémon and even people roller-skating down the streets or sidewalks. "We have to cross the road, see, the lab is right there!" She pointed to a building that stuck out like a sore thumb in the highly modernised town; it was a decently sized building, having a glass roof and trees surrounded by a fence. Bonnie pulled on his arm and the two dashed across the street, "You gotta be fast when you're crossing the street, busy people live in Lumiose."

She was still holding onto his hand tightly as they entered the building. "Professor Sycamore!" She called loudly.

A lady appeared from a hallway and smiled, "Oh hello!"

"Hiya Sophie!" Bonnie said cheerfully, "Remember me?"

"Of course I do." Sophie smiled, "What can I help you with Bonnie?"

Bonnie looked up at Paul. "This guy says that his brother sent all his pokémon here from Sinnoh and I was wondering if you had them?"

"Sinnoh?" Sophie tapped her chin, "I think we do. Just follow me, Professor Sycamore is with the other pokémon."

"And Garchomp?"

"And Garchomp.

Bonnie kept her grip on Paul's hand and pulled hint down the big hallway, seeing it brighten thanks to a glass wall leading into an outdoor looking area with lots of plant life and pokémon. There was a man standing there with a long white lab coat and dark hair, a Garchomp was standing next to him along with a Lopunny. Bonnie pushed open a door and raced inside, letting go of Paul's hand, "Professor Sycamore, Garchomp!" Both turned around and smiled.

"Hello there!" Professor Sycamore greeted, Bonnie skidded to a stop in front of him and Garchomp leaned down to allow Bonnie to pet it's head.

"I never knew you had a Lopunny! It's so pretty!" Lopunny flipped one of its ears behind its head and did a little pose.

Professor Sycamore laughed at the pokémon's movements, "Yes, I just got it recently, Lopunny is one of the few pokémon that can mega evolve, would you like to see?"

"Oh yes!" Bonnie clasped her hands together and jumped around excitedly.

"Mega evolve?" Paul asked, Professor Sycamore turned around and nodded.

"Yes, mega evolution. I research the evolution of pokémon and it has been found recently that certain pokémon can gain an extra evolution, usually pokémon that are fully evolved or have no other stages. Lopunny is one of the few, and so is Garchomp. I can show you each one if you'd like. I take it that you're not from Kalos are you?"

Paul shook his head, "I'm from Sinnoh, I just got flown in here from Hoenn last night."

A grim look made its way onto the professor's face. "Ah, I see. You were caught in that."

"His name is Paul." Bonnie said cheekily, "He said that his brother, I think," she glanced at Paul for confirmation who gave her a small nod, "Sent all his pokémon to Kalos and I thought that you had them, Sophie said that she thinks you do!"

The professor nodded, "I think we do, you would just have to give me your information and some of your brother so I can ensure that you are actually the trainer."

Paul nodded, "I can do that." He pointed to the two pokémon. "Can I see the mega evolutions first?"

Sycamore nodded, "Of course." He lifted up his arm and touched a bulky bracelet. "There are a few necessary components to it, you have to have a key stone, which is this little stone here," he pointed to the rainbow coloured stone on his bracelet. "Then you need a mega stone which is what goes on your pokémon." He touched a stone on a collar that Garchomp was wearing and then a bracelet that was on Lopunny. "These two stones are connected with the friendship you have with your pokémon." He turned to the two pokémon, "Ready?" Both pokémon nodded. Professor Sycamore touched the key stone, "Garchomp, mega evolve!" A bright light exploded from both Garchomp and the key stone, Paul watched as the pokémon changed while being enveloped in the light. The light suddenly disappeared and Garchomp let out a cry, slightly different than the cry it had as a regular Garchomp. Paul stared at the pokémon in awe, a pokémon that had supposedly finished evolving, had a fourth form.

"Mega evolution is only temporary, the pokémon can go back to its previous form at any time it wants, and a trainer can only evolve one pokémon at a time." Paul stared at the Garchomp, it was different but also the same as it was as a regular Garchomp, it looked stronger and fiercer. The bright light appeared around the pokémon once again and it changed back to the way it was before. Professor Sycamore looked at the Lopunny, "I'm not certain if Lopunny's mega evolution will work for you, since I got it so recently." He looked over at said pokémon, "But we're willing to try, ready?" Lopunny nodded and gave the professor a thumbs up. Sycamore touched his bracelet again and said, "Lopunny, mega evolve!"

When the light didn't show up right away, Paul assumed that it didn't work, but suddenly a burst of light erupted from Lopunny and it changed in the blink of an eye, letting out a shrill cry. "Sometimes with mega evolution, pokémon can gain or lose typing, in Lopunny's case it gained a secondary type, fighting." Paul guessed that it was fighting, because Lopunny was standing in a stance similar to what a Medicam would do.

"What other pokémon can mega evolve?" Paul asked.

Sycamore rubbed his chin, "I'm certain that we haven't found all of them yet, but for now we know of quite a few actually. There's Charizard which gets two evolutions, Blastiose, Venasaur, Blaziken, Swampert, Sceptile, Garchomp, Lopunny,Lucario, Aagron—"

"Aagron?" Paul asked.

"Yes," the professor nodded, "Aagron becomes a single steel type when it mega evolves."

"And they're more powerful when the mega evolve?" The professor nodded again. "Where can I find these stones?"

"There's no specific area and there's no area which they are not in. They've been found all over Kalos and recently in Hoenn."

"In Hoenn?"

"Yes, that's where the three starters that originate from there get their stones, other than Blaziken. The Swampertite and Sceptilite are found in Hoenn only, for reasons unknown."

"Can I get my pokémon now?" Paul asked.

The professor nodded, "Yes of course, just follow me; they should still be in their pokéballs." The light flashed around Lopunny and it returned to normal, then the professor led both him and Bonnie out of the room and down the hallway. He pushed open a door to another room; Paul could see the system used to transfer pokéballs sitting inside. "Could I have your name, hometown and your brother's name please, oh and his residence too."

"Paul Robelldo, Veilstone City, Sinnoh and Reggie Robelldo, Veilstone City, Sinnoh."

The professor nodded and held a box out t Paul, "All of them should be there. I can hold onto the ones you're not currently using, and if you'd like then they can be with the lab pokémon, a few other trainers have their pokémon in there too."

Paul took out one pokéball and placed a different one inside; he placed the new one on his belt and looked at another. "What pokémon is that?" Bonnie asked, pointing to the one he was looking at.

"My Aagron."

"Oh?" This caught the professor's attention, "So you have one, that's why you were so interested right?" Paul nodded.

"Well," The professor scratched the back of his head, "I don't have any extra Aagronites, but I do have a few key stones, you could have one if you'd like."

Paul stared at his pokéball for a few moments and shrugged, "Sure, it'll make my pokémon stronger eventually."

The professor nodded and turned to rummage some more in the room. He turned back to the two and handed Paul the rainbow coloured stone. "There you go." He smiled.

Paul nodded, "Thanks." He looked over at Bonnie. "We need to leave now." He placed Aagron's pokéball back on his belt.

Bonnie let out a dramatic sigh and leaned over, "Aw really? You're only switching out one?"

"Yes."

Bonnie crossed her arms with a pout, "Aw okay, but you gotta show me all you pokémon later 'kay?"

"Sure, whatever."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **May 25** **th** **, 2006**

A loud ringing noise pounded through the silent darkness of the Lisico's living room. Paul sat up from the spot he was sleeping on the sectional couch that resided in the home. He looked over to the person who was still sleeping on the other side. "Pick up your damn phone!" He said loud enough for the person to hear, and to not happen to wake up any of the others, but he stayed fast asleep. Paul hissed the words again and got the same answer. Reaching behind his back, he pulled out the pillow he had and slammed it down on the other's face.

"What the–what was that for?" Ash said as he glared at Paul, the black haired teen reached a hand up to rub his face where he had been hit.

"Pick up your damn phone." Paul said angrily. "It's been ringing nonstop."

Ash rubbed his eyes and sat up; he pulled his arms back behind his head and stretched. "You could have just talked to me instead of hitting me with a pillow!" His voice was gravely and he sat forward again, his brown eyes watching Paul.

"If you could actually hear, then maybe you would have!" Paul hissed.

It had been two weeks since they had first arrived and Paul was really regretting the decision of letting Clemont sleep in his own room with Drew. Ash yawned and reached into his bag, first pushing aside the blanket that had fallen off of him and onto the floor while he slept, and pulled out his pokégear and holding it up to his ear, silencing it. "Hello?" He asked, his eyes already closing from his tiredness. Paul could hear the voice on the other end of the phone speaking quickly and loudly, after a few more minutes of listening the black haired teen said. "Iris, can you say that slower?" Ash's head dropped down into his hands as he spoke. He look as if he was about to fall asleep again any minute. "I'm not a little kid." He said slowly. "I'm older than you and it's…" He trailed off, opening an eye and looking to Paul. "What time is it?" The voice on the other line was still speaking.

Paul looked behind the couch and into the kitchen, barely making out the blurry numbers on the stove. "Five forty."

"Five forty?" Ash repeated. "Iris it's so early talk slower. I'm not a little kid!" He added.

Paul reached down and picked up his pillow, placing it behind his head. Paul heard footsteps and a voice muttering. Clemont walked past him and Paul heard him say, "Wouldn't it be a good target to be attacked?" He paused in his walking for a moment then he continued on. "Are you sure?" His nightcap was crooked as he walked past Paul and into the kitchen and closed the wooden door.

"Cilan, thank Arceus. It's too early, I'm not awake yet, what was she saying?" Paul leaned back, closing his eyes tiredly. Suddenly Ash jumped up, his bare feet made a loud noise as they slapped against the lament floor. "I'll wake up Clemont and see."

"He's in the kitchen." Paul muttered, not opening his eyes. He heard Ash race by and open the door, he also heard Clemont make a small noise of surprise. The door was obviously left open as Paul could see the red-orange colour from his eyelids. "Clemont, do you have any rooms in the tower?"

"Is this about your friends in Unova?" Paul looked behind him again, only seeing Ash's back. "How many are there?"

"Sixteen… Eight of them are my friend's siblings." Paul raised his eyebrows at that. _Eight children?_

"Sixteen?" There was a pause, Paul could see Clemont talking on his pokégear, Ash had shifted his position just enough for him to see over his shoulder. Clemont was talking on his pokégear again. "Yeah, there's room."

Ash nodded and put his own pokégear up to his phone. "How long does it take to get from Unova to Kalos? Two hours? Okay bye." He passed Paul again and picked up his backpack. Ash looked at Paul. "You should probably get dressed too."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Orre and Almia got attacked. My friends are coming here since so far this is the safest region." Paul thought for a moment, there were four small regions near Unova, Orre, Almia, Fiore and Oblivia. These four regions all held mainly pokémon rangers, why would regions as small as this be attacked? Other than the use of fear because of its closeness to the high-tech region, he thought it was ridiculous.

Paul had decided to come with Ash to the airport. A reason as to why? He wouldn't be able to fall asleep again and he didn't want to watch the television quietly, flipping through most of the channels that weren't in a language he understood. Both teens had showered and dressed and were anxiously waiting, or at least Ash was. It would also be hard to keep seventeen people from getting lost in a big city such as Lumiose.

"They're here." Ash said, he was looking at a board showing the arrivals of different flights and clearly the latest one was theirs, Mistralton City to Lumiose City. Suddenly a wave of people arrived through a terminal. From the corner of his eye, Paul could see Ash moving back and forth antsy to see his friends.

"Gary, Tracey, Mom..." He muttered and started to wave. "Hey guys!" A tall brown haired woman immediately looked over and began to run, or more like speed walk, over to them. Once she reached them she pulled Ash into a hug.

"I missed my baby so much!" She exclaimed while cupping his face, Paul couldn't help the smirk that appeared when she called him her baby. Ash was close to her in height, maybe a little bit taller. He pulled away from her with a smile and more people surrounded them.

Paul recognised the tall breeder guy in the back who was holding onto a little girl that greatly resembled him. There were a few other people that looked like they would be older than he was.

"Sorry we called so early," A purple haired girl said as she pushed her way to the front. "But I really didn't want to stay in Unova especially concerning who I am." She gave Ash a look. "Alder and Drayden wanted me to leave too." She added.

Ash scratched the back of his head. "It's fine, we already have people from Sinnoh and Hoenn with us." He pointed to Paul. "Like him."

The purple haired girl looked Paul up and down. "I'm Iris, who are you?" She said bluntly, another tall man in the back made his way to the front.

"Sorry, she's a bit stressed." He said. "I'm Cilan by the way." He smiled and held out a hand.

"Paul." He answered plainly; not taking a hold of Cilan's outstretched hand.

This time an orange haired girl made her way over. "Sorry, but can we do introductions after? I'm super tired." Paul watched as Ash took her bag for her, and his mother's. Paul could see Ash's facial expression change slightly when he looked at both women.

"We have to go to a small house first so we can wake up the other three, then we're going somewhere bigger." Ash explained, he then looked to Paul, "Could you take some of Brock's siblings' bags?" Paul was agitated that Ash was telling him what to do but decided not to argue, at least not in front of exhausted and cranky people.

He shot Ash a look. "Who is that exactly?"

"Brock was with me and Dawn in Sinnoh."

Paul walked towards him and took a very pink bag that was hanging off of his wrist. "Thank you Paul." Brock said, he didn't answer him.

Paul was happy once they finally reached the Lisico's house. Dawn, Serena and Bonnie were still dressed in their pyjamas and were very surprised once they saw the group of people stuffing into the living room. The three promptly left to go and get dressed.

Drew who was now leaning against the wall spoke up. "Okay wait, so Orre and Almia got attacked? Two of the Ranger regions, and now we're going to stay in the Lumiose tower?"

"Yes."

"And Kalos is the safest region?"

"Yes."

"Let me go get my stuff then... and wake up May." He said.

Dawn, Serena and Bonnie appeared again. "Hi Iris, Cilan!" Dawn waved with a smile.

"Hello again Dawn!" Cilan said. "I still expect that you still have a wonderful bond with your pokémon, such a delightful sweet flavour your relationship with them is." Iris waved from where she was standing next to him.

"I do!" Dawn said cheerfully, "If you don't mind me asking, why are you all here?"

"Long story." Brock said from where he was sitting on the couch, the little girl was still fast asleep but was now laying on him.

"Brock!" Dawn's eyes lit up. "I didn't see you! Is that one of you sisters?" She pointed to the girl.

He nodded, "This is my youngest sister, Suzy. She's eleven now!" He stated rather proudly.

Dawn smiled, "You look alike."

"We all do." Another one of his siblings spoke up. Dawn looked around the room, noticing many people that did greatly resemble Brock.

"Go pack your stuff." Paul instructed. "We're going to the Lumiose Tower to stay instead."

"Why?" Dawn asked.

"Do you really think all these people will be able to stay here?"

Dawn shook her head. "I guess not. I'll be right back then." She left once again.

Finally everybody was ready to leave. Clemont had informed his father of the move and then they left right after. It was hard to keep all of Brock's siblings in order even if they were the same age as Dawn or younger. His oldest sibling was named Forrest and he had taken over through Pewter City gym while Brock went around Kanto as a doctor.

"Wait," May spoke up, "If some of you are gym leaders, shouldn't you be helping your region?"

"Brock's parents took over for us." The red-headed girl said. Paul now understood that this was Ash's girlfriend Misty, it wasn't just obvious about their closeness to each other but also they were holding hands, Ash was carrying three bags, not letting Misty or his mother hold onto their own. "Brock's mother always wanted to run a water type gym so she was glad to let us leave. Brock's father took over the Pewter Gym and they sent all of Brock and his siblings over too."

May looked to Iris and Cilan, "What about you guys? Dawn said that you were both gym leaders."

"Many gyms have popped up throughout the region so now the one Striaton City has closed and is now just a restaurant." Cilan said.

"Drayden has taken over mine again." Iris added.

"We're here." Bonnie announced cheerfully to the group as they rounded a corner. "Not a lot of people drive in Central Plaza because so many people walk through it to get to other parts of the city." The group crossed the street, bring led by Clemont, Bonnie, Serena and Ash. Misty was there too as she was holding onto his hand. They reached an entrance and Clemont typed in a password and the mechanical door opened up allowing everyone inside the tower.

"Now that we're inside, can someone please tell us what's really happening in the world?" May asked quite loudly, catching each person's attention.

Each of the gym leaders looked at each other, Gary too; whom Paul had forgotten was still with them. "I don't see why not." Gary said. "To make it easier on the other's I'll just say it outright,"

"Inside a safe area first." Misty interjected. "Only certain people can know too." She looked over at Ash, "You obviously know who's the most trustworthy, I know you don't want to leave people out, but I think the people who traveled with you should listen, and a few other who you trust if they're here."

"But Mist, I can't-"

"You're going to have to Ash; this is too serious for everyone to know about. Why do you think that none of this was put onto any news stations?"

Ash looked down at his feet. "Alright fine." He looked around, his eyes landed on Paul. "I want Paul and Drew to come." He then bent down and placed a hand on Bonnie's head. "Why don't you go and show people to their rooms and stuff? It would be really helpful."

Bonnie crossed her arms with a huff. "But I want to know!"

Delia rested her hand on Bonnie's shoulder. "This is scary stuff, why don't you help me; I bet you're strong enough to help us carry the other's bags." Bonnie's eyes instantly lit up and she raced to grab any bag in sight. Delia smiled at her son. "Go and do what you must."

"Thanks mom."

* * *

 **May 25** **th** **, 2006**

The group had squeezed in a small room, another one of the many bedrooms hidden away in the depths of the Lumiose Tower. It was vacant from all furniture except for a small bed quilted in white of which Ash had sat himself on top of. The light sheets wrinkled around him and it squeaked under his weight. "Why didn't you mention that you had so many bedrooms in the tower?" Serena asked, breaking through the silence that had fallen over the thirteen of them, her head was tilted to the side slightly, "Don't you think it would have just been easier to stay here for the past two weeks instead of trying to stuff us all in your home? You don't even have a bed in your room, I think you would have been more comfortable here than on the floor."

"Or Drew on that futon." Ash added, "You can feel the springs pokin' out at you." Ash made a slight expression of discomfort.

A blush dusted across Clemont's cheeks at Ash's comment, but quickly shook it off, "I've been worried that with all of this happening right now, that it would be a target for whoever's doing this. I wanted us all to be safe." He shrugged, "Diantha called me this morning, she told me to prepare the tower for any future refugees that happen to come here, and well, we got some." He gestured to the people placed all around the room.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Serena nodded slowly.

"Let's get this over with." Misty interrupted with a sigh, she looked beyond tired, dark circles were nder her eyes and her red hair was a mess, she looked between Gary and another tall green haired man with an orange headband. "Gary you said you know a lot so I'm assuming that Tracey does too." Both named men looked at another and Gary shifted to lean against the plain white wall.

"Yeah, my grandfather told us since he has connections with the other pokémon professors." He looked around at the group. "So we really don't know what's causing all this other than in Hoenn, that's a given though. Weird things have been happening all over the world. In Kanto many pokémon are angry for an unknown reason and there have been many reports of pokémon harming people and others, only certain species are affected, such as the Geodude line and many bug types." From the corner of his eye, Paul could see Misty shiver slightly. "They're not sick, they're not injured in any way, they're perfectly healthy. All of the Nurse Joy's we contacted had the same results; there was no physical problem with any of them. Brock's vene looked at them and said the same thing." He gestured to the tall tanned man. "My grandfather and myself have looked at some of my own pokémon and Tracey's and even Brock's that have been affected, the way they're acting is similar to the red Gyarados from the Lake of Rage. Which brings me to Johto, it has completely disappeared."

" _What_?" Ash said; his eyes almost popped out of his face in surprise, "A whole region just, _disappeared_? How does something like that even happen?"

"We don't know, but it did." Tracey spoke up. "I traveled there with the professor and it was gone, it was just a huge cliff. I was able to feel the side of the rock, but you can't see any of the water from the ocean, only fog. It's disappeared right along the border which is along the Silver mountain range."

"What about the League building?" Paul asked, "Isn't it halfway in Johto and Kanto?"

"It is." Tracy said. "They haven't said anything about it but I suspect it has with the rest of it." He shrugged. "I doubt half the building is just hanging over the side of the endless cliff."

"Also, I'm sure you've all heard about what's happened to Hoenn," Gary started up again, "that's the only thing that's been publicised because of all the people being flown to Unova and Kalos, but if you have not, Mauville City, Slateport City, Mossdeep City, Petalburg City and Victory Road had all been bombed." He said rather grimly.

Three sets of eyes turned onto May who was staring at Gary in shock. The tears in her eyes were visible and she raced out of the room. Drew cursed before rushing out after her. Everyone watched the two race away, the door still left open. Cilan, who was standing closest to the door, moved to close it.

"She didn't know that Petalburg was bombed." Dawn spoke quietly, "We haven't heard from her parents or brother." She paused for a moment, "Or Kenny..."

"Kenny Hudson? He was in Hoenn too?" It was Brock who spoke this time; there was a look of familiarity on his face, but also one of sadness.

Paul looked at Dawn who was staring at her feet; her face was blocked by her blue hair that hung down around her cheeks. "He was challenging the league, for more battling experience." Paul spoke for her. "He was going to challenge Norman and should have been in town by the time it was hit."

The whole room was silent for a moment, "I bet you two want to know about Sinnoh." Gary said.

This immediately caught Dawn's attention. She looked at the brown haired man, her eyes were red yet she didn't leave. Paul felt sorry for her. She had already gone through one round of tears for a friend; and now most likely another round for her mother. Then there was the question, what would he do?

He wanted to know what happened to his brother, Paul was close to Reggie even if it seemed like he wasn't sometimes. Reggie was really the only person left in Paul's family that he had actually cared about, he was worried too.

He looked to Gary who seemed hesitant upon looking at Dawn. Paul decided to push the young researcher into saying it. "What's happened to Sinnoh?" He demanded, locking his gaze onto Gary's matching dark eyes.

Gary turned his gaze onto him then spoke, "Weird distortion spots have appeared all over the region. Three different types have been spotted. Two of them just look like a mix of black swirls, one kind has red in it, and the other has purple in it. Then there's been sightings of floating islands, random buildings appearing in cities, giant gaping holes that appeared out of nowhere, there's a mass of random natural disasters happening, and all electronic devices don't work."

"Then how do you know what's it like there? How would you have contact with Sinnoh if electronics weren't working? That goes for even written letters, you would need to fly them over or by boat and most navigation devices now are electronic." Paul challenged with his eyes narrowed into a slight glare.

"I was there working with Professor Rowan again when it started happening. I left by boat in a safe pier. You're right though, the boat's mapping system was down."

Paul looked at Dawn again, "That's why the phone lines were dead." She muttered.

"Has anything happened to Veilstone or Twinleaf?" Paul demanded.

Gary shook his head, "Nothing affected them when I left but it could have changed since then, it's been a few months."

"And Unova and Kalos are stable right now." Misty added.

Ash frowned at that, "Yeah, for now."

Drew raced after May down the halls. "May slow down! Please!" He shouted, she didn't listen and kept running. She rounded a corner, Drew almost ran into her because she had stopped. Even from behind he could tell just how broken she was. He could see her shoulders shaking slightly as did the fists by her side. "May..." He said softly, she didn't look at him but spoke in a cracked voice, Drew winced once he heard it, he didn't want to hear her voice sound like that, the only way it did when she was this upset. He wanted to help her feel better. It was something that he had to do.

"What if they're dead?" She stared up at him with red rimmed eyes, they shone with unshed tears and her cheeks were stained by the wet trails left by the ones that had made their way out. Drew could feel his heart clench at the sight, he has never once seen her this upset, he has never once seen her crying. He has never once seen her this vulnerable. Drew knew that she could be this way, but he never wanted to see it for himself, seeing her in this state made him hurt too.

"I'm sure they're-" He attempted to say, but stopped, useless sentences like this wouldn't help.

"They were bombed Drew, they're not okay." She paused, taking a deep shaky breath, "I want to go home." Her voice quivered, just like her breathing did. "I just want to go home…" She repeated quietly.

Drew sighed, "So do I but we can't. We're safer here." Drew didn't want her to leave; he needed to know that at least she was safe; nobody else mattered to him, not his own parents, just the broken brown haired girl in front of him.

She moved towards him and rested her head on his shoulder and he quickly wrapped his arms around her in a hug, her own arms making his middle, he rested his head on top of hers. "I know, but I don't want to stay here." She spoke as he began to rock them back and forth in a soothing way. "I feel like I'm intruding in a way, we just randomly showed up one day. I feel like I'm annoying people by just being here, I want to go home and see my family. I want my family to be safe."

"I feel the same way." He spoke softly.

"Why do these things have to happen?" May let out an angry laugh, shaking her head in the process, "What good does any of this make?" One of her hands moved towards a blue eye to wipe a stray tear. "I just want to be at home."

"I want to go home too, but I want you to stay here so you're safe. I'd feel the same way you are right now if you weren't with me." He tightened his grip on her. If it was possible, May moved herself closer to Drew.

"I want to stay like this for a bit." She said quietly, Drew had no intention of rejecting that.

Dawn sighed as she sat on the bed in her given room. She wasn't one of the people needed to share, Brock had volunteered that him and his siblings would share. Misty had also stated that Tracey and her sister Daisy would end up sharing a room anyway; this caused the tall man to blush profusely.

The room was fairly small, and not very much furnished, just the basics, a single bed and a white bedside table. A closet and a small desk were inside too. The nicest thing in the room was the large television planted on the wall. After the discussion, everybody went their separate ways. She still hadn't seen May or Drew anywhere.

There was a light knock on the door, Dawn didn't need to get up to open it, it had already been pushed open by the person inside. Misty smiled and walked into the room, closing the door gently behind her. "I wanted to make sure you were okay,"

"I'm fine." Dawn smiled at her. Misty walked over and took a seat next to her on the bed. "I think the person who really needs to be checked in on is Paul."

Misty looked around her room briefly before answering her. "He's was the purple haired guy next to you right? I'm still trying to learn names; it took me forever to remember all eight siblings of Brock." The red head laughed lightly. "Why would he need to be checked on?" She questioned.

"Paul's a very… introverted and passionate person. He thinks highly of his opinions but isn't really the type to talk to people about them." She explained. "I'm worried about what he's thinking."

"I'm curious, is he your boyfriend?"

Dawn felt her face heat up and she quickly shook her head. "N-no," She stuttered, "he's not. I've just been traveling with him and May and Drew in Hoenn, but that was cut short…" She trailed off slightly, "We're only friends, I think?"

"You think?" Misty said while giving her a quizzical look.

Dawn nodded. "With Paul it's hard to tell, but I know he likes me better than other people. I like to think of him as a friend."

A smile graced its way onto Misty's face, "I think he considers you a friend, he seemed very concerned for you during out 'meeting'. I could read his expressions pretty clearly after the report on Sinnoh."

Dawn nodded slowly. "He's changed a little in the past few weeks, not much. I don't know why, but I've noticed that he has."

Misty sat back a little farther and swung her legs back and forth over the edge of the bed. "Change like he's become more mature?"

"No…" Dawn said with a slow shake of her head. "Friendlier, even to Ash who has been his rival since we all met back in Sinnoh. I like that he's nicer, but I don't want him to become another super kind person like Ash, that wouldn't suit Paul at all." She laughed at the thought.

"For just a friend you seem to know a lot about him."

"No, I barely know any of Paul." This was the truth. She only knew of the stuff she got to experience, like his personality. She had no idea what his whole life had been like, she doesn't know his family other than Reggie and his soon-to-be sister-in-law Maylene. Dawn wanted to know much, much more.

Misty suddenly jumped up from the bed, a spark of remembrance danced across her face. "I almost forgot!" She said rather loudly. "Brunch will be served shortly! We have the best chef's cooking or us, Brock, Delia, Cilan, even Clemont and Serena, it'll be a huge meal so you won't be hungry until dinner!" She grinned. Dawn's stomach rumbled, she barely got to eat once the massive group appeared in the Lisico's home. She was in the mood for eating Brock's delicious food again, and trying some of Delia's.

"I'll be right down!"


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **May 26th, 2006**

Paul sat up on his bed, his eyes were still half closed as he gazed down at his pokégear, the light coming from it was painful to look at. The clock on it read 11:38 pm. He stared at it until a minute flashed by, the clock changed. It was strange, Paul thought, he hardly ever woke up during the night unless a noise was made, let alone only after an hour and a half of sleeping. He heard nothing, he knew he hadn't. Paul looked around his dark room. The only source of light he had now was the yellow leaking under his closed door, the source from his pokégear was gone.

He pushed himself back against the wall, his bed was given no frame, it was just a box spring and a mattress piled on top of each other on the plywood floor. The pale yet dark wall was cool against his bare back. It was sweltering hot in the tower, Paul found it odd because it was getting into late June, and he knew that Kalos was definitely cooler than the humid Hoenn, but was heating needed in the summer?

He rubbed his face with his hand and looked around the room again. He was unsure as of what to do, he knew it would take forever to fall asleep not only because he had troubles doing so but also because of the unbearable heat.

He let his eyes wonder to the door again, this time he noticed the shadow he could see that was blocking some of the light from leaking into his room. He stared at it for a moment, seeing if it would move. It didn't. Paul hardly felt uneasy, he knew that Clemont had an active high tech alarm system that was almost impossible to hack into and change. He felt safe in the tower. From the shape of the figure in front of the door, it seemed like it was the sleeping thing was one of Clemont's many roaming pokémon.

Paul stood up and decided to go and shoo whichever pokémon it was, he didn't want it to be sleeping outside of his room. He leaned back in a slow get stretch before pulling open the door.

That was definitely not a pokémon.

He frowned as he stared at the sleeping person. "You're so stupid." He muttered under his breath and bent down to pick them up, placing one arm on their lower back and the other one under their blue and white polka-dotted pyjama pants covered legs.

He pushed open the door to his room again and laid them on his bed, maybe sleeping on the leather couch might cool him down some.

Dawn made a slight noise as she rolled over in her sleep, her blue hair was a mess and it ungracefully fell over her face. She suddenly clutched onto the duvet. Paul sat on the couch and watched her actions. Her face was contorted into an unpleasant expression. He rolled his eyes at her and laid himself in and odd way on the much too small couch. A 5'10 seventeen year old should not be trying to sleep on a couch meant for only two people to sit on. He closed his eyes, attempting for sleep but he knew that it would never come. He could hear shifting on his bed again; there was another noise, a yawn.

"Why are you always sleeping on the couch?" She asked sleepily, she shifted under the covers and propped herself up onto an elbow.

"Why were you asleep in the hallway?" He retorted.

"I wanted to make sure you were sleeping okay, since I didn't see you after supper." Paul had only made a brief appearance then, grabbing a few of the biscuits that were made to go along with the seafood which had been readily prepared.

"I'm fine." He answered curtly.

"Come and sleep on the bed. I'll go back to my own room." She spoke softly. He didn't reply. Paul could just imagine her expression now, the one she also says gave him when he didn't reply, slight confusion. He suddenly felt gentle fingers on his arm, they were placed there lightly, as if he was a wild pokémon and she was a person approaching him with caution. "Paul?" She called.

"I don't care what you do." Her fingers lingered on his arm for a moment, then pulled away slowly. It was strange, he felt kind of, disappointed. "You can stay or you can go." He added quickly, much to his own surprise. He didn't doubt that the look of confusion clouded her face again.

"I'll sleep on the couch this time then. It's my turn."

He didn't look at her, "I never had either. You forced me to share that queen sized bed with you."

"Why not just share it again?" She suggested, "I don't want to see you try and sleep on that couch, you hardly fit, somebody who's like 6' trying to sleep on a couch smaller than me. You'll be sore trying to sleep like that."

"I'm fine. Plus that's a single bed, it's only meant for one person."

"Paul, I'll drag you over there like I did last time." Paul didn't move. Dawn let out a frustrated noise and grabbed his wrist and started to pull. Paul jerked his arm away.

"Fine." He hissed and stood up. Before walking to the bed, he went to his bag and begun to dig through it.

"What are you looking for?" Dawn asked, Paul could kind of see her face in the bad lighting, her head was slightly tilted to the side, an action that a newly hatched pokémon would do.

"A shirt."

The room was silent, then she stuttered out, "Y-you're not wearing a shirt?"

"No, can you not feel how hot it is in here?" He retorted. "They have the heating on so high."

"I-I guess I didn't notice." She said slowly. Paul's hand came in contact with something plush and he pulled it out of his bag. He shook it out and felt the short sleeves of it. He could still see her looking at him from the corner of his eye. He quickly pulled it over his head. He walked over to the bed and pushed the sheets on one side before laying down on the side the closest to the wall. Dawn made no movement to lie down, not that he cared.

There were a few minutes of awkward silence. Dawn's voice then appeared again, "You are wearing pants right?"

Paul immediately sat up once he heard that, "What the hell? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you said that it was hot and you weren't wearing a shirt, so I just figured."

"Well you figured wrong."

He heard a light laugh come from her; Paul felt the corner of his mouth twitch up into a small smile. He quickly lay down again before she could see it. The bed sunk as she laid down on it herself. Paul could feel her leg brush up against his while she gathered the duvet. Once Dawn was pleased with the positioning of the blanket, she spoke. "I have a weird question for you."

"What?" He said slowly.

Dawn was quiet for a moment, she then spoke again, "Do you think of me as a friend?"

"Why?"

"Well, earlier Misty came and asked we were friends, I said yes but I can't really tell from you side."

Paul thought, then answered. "I guess so." He turned around and looked at her. The light leaking from the door outlined her face; he could see that her mouth was stretched into a smile. "I'm going to sleep now." He said suddenly and turned back around, staring at the wall.

"Okay." She spoke quietly, "Goodnight."

It took Paul around an hour to fall asleep again, but he eventually did.

* * *

 **May 30th, 2006**

Paul sat on the metal bench beside the battlefield. Nobody else was there so he took it as a good opportunity to think about his own training, and the crisis happening around the world. He needed his pokémon to be strong, to prepare them for anything that might come in the future. Now with all the hatred and hurt in the world. Paul instinctively put his hand into his pocket, feeling the six small pokéballs. He pulled them all out and held them in both hands, staring at them. Regardless of how much he pushed his pokémon and seemed like he didn't care. It was the complete opposite. His pokémon were his only friends for the longest time, they were also his first friends. He pulled put his pokégear next and turned it on, placing his pokéballs back into his pocket. He looked through his contacts and paused upon seeing one.

Hesitantly, he clicked on it and held it up to his ear. Like he expected, he was met with a series of obnoxious beeps. Though the noise was annoying, he kept it by his ear. He was secretly hoping for an answer but he knew that it wouldn't come. Once the line went dead and an automatic operator's voice spoke, asking for him to try and call the number again because it couldn't be reached. He finally pulled it away and turned it off.

There was a shuffling noise beside him. "Hi." He turned his head and stared at the person who was sitting next to him, he hasn't seen her in a long time, not since the meeting a few days ago. She wasn't wearing her usual attire either; she was clad in a pair of black sweatpants and a red sweater, on the sweater it read, "Johto Grand Festival 2003". The year surprised Paul; she still had clothing that fit her from three years ago? The clothes he wore in Sinnoh barely fit him by the end of his travels let alone the ones he wore three years prior.

Paul didn't answer her; he was confused by seeing May. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought about it and decided not to. Asking if people were okay sometimes made situations worse, he knew May wasn't and he didn't want to remind her of the troubles back home.

"I'm okay," She said as if she could read his mind. She gave him a small smile. "I'm slowly getting over it. I heard about what happened to Sinnoh." She paused for a moment, "Are you feeling okay?" Her blue eyes focused on him, a concerned look swam through them. Her eyes were so similar to the masses of blue eyes in this building, similar to Dawn and Serena's, and even Bonnie and Clemont's. The colours were all slightly different, yet they had the same easiness to read, all emotions clearly visible, like how you could easily see through clean water.

Paul took a moment, he wanted to lie but what good would that do? She was in the same situation as him. "Not particularly." He said slowly, "Reggie is my only family so I am kind of worried about him." He looked at her from the corner of his eye, he wasn't one for much emotion but he didn't know why he was telling May so much, he wouldn't tell any other person, so why her? It's not like they were exactly close, fighting a lot and having different opinions caused them to clash very often, yet he felt as if May was the perfect person to confide in.

"Kind of?" She probed, "I think it's more like terrified for him." She brushed her loose hair back over her shoulder. "I know of your sleeping problem; your insomnia, it's not that hard to figure out when we've been traveling with another for a while. Maybe you should go to a pharmacy or a doctor, to get a prescription to help you. I'm worried to be honest." She said blatantly.

"Why would you be worried? It's my problem, you shouldn't worry about it."

She gave him a critical look, "People who care for their friends will worry. I'd be willing to go with you to an appointment if you want. I want you to have a good sleep; it only affects you worse during the day, caffeine won't be all that helpful to you."

Paul shrugged lightly, "I'll think about it." He then decided to swing the conversation in another direction. "Are you and Drew okay?" Paul had decided to ask, if they were friends like she said, then she obviously would care if he probed.

May rocked herself back and forth slightly on the metal bleachers, "Drew's fine, I'm getting there."

Paul nodded slowly, "Dawn's been bothering me because she hasn't seen either if you. She thinks that you two are dating or something."

May stared at him, "Well I haven't been in the mood to see anyone, and Drew's been bothering me the whole time about not seeing anybody, and no we're not dating." She shrugged, "Though I could ask the same question about you and Dawn. What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing." He replied swiftly. "If there was, do you honestly think you wouldn't have heard of it by now? She would tell anybody she could if she as dating somebody."

"I guess you're right." May was analyzing his face. "Would you tell me if you two had anything going on?" An evil glint flashed in May's eyes. "Do you _like_ Dawn?"

Paul gave her a look, "I doubt I would tell you. Why are we even talking about this?"

"You brought it up." May answered with a sly grin. "I want to know everything about my best friends!"

"Best friends?" He questioned.

May nodded quickly, "Oh yes! You, Dawn, Ash, Brock and Drew. You five are my favourite people; you're all my best friends!"

"I don't know if I want to be on the same level as Ash."

May laughed at that. "Don't worry; you're much higher on my best friends list." She gave him a wink, Paul rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" A voice echoed through the empty gym battlefield. "That's not fair! You have known me longer than Paul."

May waved to Ash who was walking towards them. "Yeah, but Paul's a lot calmer than you. I don't get mad at him as much."

Paul gave her a look of pure surprise, "Are you being serious?"

"Yep!" She smiled. "I only get mad at you once a day, I get mad at Ash like three times a day. It's a nice break."

"Hey!" Ash said angrily, "It wasn't three times a day!"

"Oh right..." May muttered with a nod, "It was more like five."

"No it wasn't!" Ash climbed up onto the bleachers and took a seat in front of them. "You hardly ever got mad at me!" He pointed an accusing finger at her then pointed to himself, and then back at her again.

May rolled her eyes, "Yes of course, maybe in your world."

Ash snorted and looked away with a pout, his arms crossed defensively over his chest. "Anyway, Drew's been looking for you. He keeps coming into Clemont's lab thing while he's working."

"What's Clemont making?" May asked, her eyes sparkled, at that question; Ash's eyes were just like May's, sparkling with excitement at the idea of a new invention from the blond haired boy.

"An antenna to try and contact the other regions like Sinnoh, Hoenn too but the lines are down in some places."

May clasped her hands together, "Wow, that's so cool! I'm so glad that you made friends with a scientist!" Ash quickly nodded in agreement.

Paul stared at the two, "He's an inventor—" He started.

"A scientist too!" Ash interrupted, "An electrical scientist!"

"Engineer." Paul rudely stated. "An inventor and engineer. Just because electricity is learned as a science, doesn't mean that he is a scientist. Clemont doesn't refer to himself as a scientist, he refers to himself as an engineer and inventor, so does his sister."

"I guess so." Ash agreed with a nod. He then went off on a rant about some other topic that neither May or him understood. The two shared a glance with another then stared at the ongoing, talkative black haired man.

Suddenly, May interrupted him. "Hey, I have an idea, how about we all go out on a field trip!"

"To where?" Paul asked slowly. He wasn't in the mood to leave the tower; the forecast was very high today, higher than it would be in Sinnoh. Paul was not a person who wore shorts; he'd rather not walk into the blaring heat with a pair of black pants.

May shrugged, "To somewhere I find interesting."

"Okay!" Ash said cheerily and jumped up from his spot on the metal bleachers.

"Paul, you're coming too. You don't have a choice."

Paul stared at her, "I do have a choice and I am not going outside." He pointed to her outfit, "If you do go outside, you'll have a heat stroke, and you're not covered for medical bills in Kalos."

May rolled her eye and curled her fingers around his wrist. "Come on Paul, it'll be fun. I really want you to come." She smiled gently at him. "If you're so worried about me fainting, then I'll change and we can go!"

Paul grumbled and let out an annoyed, "Fine."

May cheered happily and smothered him in a hug. "Thanks Paul! I'll be back in a second, that is if I don't have Drew stalking my door again." She bounded away after that.

Ash laughed at that. "I'm sure you'll be fine, he's probably still with Clemont, or Cilan and Brock have distracted him for a bit." May paused at the door and gave Ash a thumbs up before hurrying into the hallway.

May held onto both Ash and Paul's wrists the whole time as she pulled them into various buildings throughout Lumiose City. She brought them to various different clothing stores, stores that sold mega stones, and even to the famous art museum. Paul quite enjoyed the last stop at the museum, it was relaxing.

The three had now made their way back to the tower; most of the people staying there were sitting on the bleachers by the battlefield. Clemont was standing on one end, talking enthusiastically to a young trainer who was standing opposite to him. May pushed both Paul and Ash towards the metal bleachers as well.

There was a large open spot next to Iris; she was madly glaring at her pokégear. May pulled Ash and Paul over next to her, she took the spot closest to the purple haired girl, leaving hint to sit in between many and Ash much to his dislike.

"Hey Cilan!" Ash announced loudly to the green haired man sitting next to the ferocious Iris.

Cilan waved to Ash as he leaned forward, "Hello Ash, Paul and May! How are you three today?"

"We're great!" Ash quickly replied, "We just came back from shopping and we went to the art museum!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Cilan's smile grew bigger at that, if that was even possible. "Ah the love aroma of classic art! I am also an art connoisseur! Did you know that—"

Iris slapped her hand over his mouth, "I am not in the mood to listen to you right now." She grated out. "Trip and Georgia already got me angry today; you don't need to add onto it."

Ash leaned forward more, "Trip and Georgia?" He questioned, "I didn't expect you to still be talking to them."

Iris grumbled, "I am. I still talk to all of them, Stephan, Bianca, Cameron, all of them."

"Cameron?" Ash questioned, "We only knew him for about a week."

"We also talk to Burgundy too, and Luke." Cilan added in.

Ash frowned and stood up, snatching Iris' pokégear from her hands. "Ash you little—" Ash cut her off by holding up his hand, Iris slapped it away. "I will kill you, give it back!" Paul watched as Ash opened the camera and took a picture of him and the others beside him, meaning Paul himself, May, Iris and Cilan. Paul leaned back so he couldn't be in the picture. "Ash!" Iris shouted angrily. Ash quickly sent the picture to various contacts he most likely knew adding in, "it's ash! i stole irises phone :D"

Paul cringed at his grammar and his lack of use of capital letters.

Almost instantly, Ash got replies from the various people he contacted. "Ash, I swear to Arceus, you better not have sent that to any of the people I work with! Definitely not Alder or Drayden!"

"Oops?" Ash replied with a smirk, "Said that too late!" He looked up at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the pokégear. A hand slapped down on the back of his head. "Ow!" He exclaimed, "I was kidding!" He reached a hand up to rub the back of his head. Ash looked behind him and made eye contact with an angry looking Misty.

"Give it back to her; what she sends people is more important than what you do." The red-head stated.

Ash let out a long dragging sigh followed by a, "Fine." and handed the pokégear back to the frustrated purple haired girl.

Iris snatched it back from him aggressively and went through various texts. "Now they what your number." She muttered.

Ash perked up, "Who?

"Stephan, Cameron and Bianca."

"Give it to them!" Ash replied with a grin and looked up at his girlfriend; he patted the empty spot next to him, "Sit with me!" He grinned up at her. Misty gave him an eye roll and sat next to him. He looked towards Clemont, "Did his challengers show up?"

"Yes, all three of them." Misty replied, "This is the last one."

Ash frowned, "Aw really? I wanted to see all of them!" He slouched forward with a groan, "I knew we shouldn't have gone to that museum!"

Ash caught May's attention and she leaned forward to glare at him, "It was a brilliant idea!" May felt a tap on her shoulder and looked behind her. Paul did too. Drew was standing there. May sighed and stood up. "I'll see you later Paul." She waved to him and trailed the green-haired man out of the battlefield.

Drew led May down a hallway and pushed open a door, it was comfy living room like place. Various couches and chairs were placed about the room; a large bookshelf was next to the television. "Are you honestly going to lecture me?" She asked, he didn't answer. "I'm feeling better, I wanted to go out and look around. I wasn't by myself I had Ash and Paul with me. It's not like if I was going to be in trouble if that's what was worrying you. I wanted to go outside and go shopping and we even went and looked at all the beautiful art."

"If you wanted to go outside you could have just asked me." Drew stated, "I'm angry that you didn't."

"I don't need to be constantly monitored." May retorted, "I am not a child, it's not something necessary for you to do."

Drew ran his fingers through his hair. "You were depressed May, don't bother denying it, I know what depression looks like. Do you know what happens to people who are upset like that? Do you know what happens to people who are depressed and just disappear without a word?"

"I wouldn't—" May started.

"Most of the time people wouldn't but it happens May. One person that I have loved has done something that they 'wouldn't do'. You doing that would be so much worse than losing my father."

"Your father...?" Drew has never told May the whereabouts of his father. Know knowing where he really was, she didn't want to know.

Drew barely stopped his rant. "And to be perfectly honest, I love you a whole lot more than I ever did for him."

May stared at him. "W-what are you-?"

Drew shrugged, not fazed at all like she was, "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked and looked away for a moment.

"I already told you, I'm feeling better." She looked away too as a small blush dusted over of her cheeks. "I get that your worried about me and stuff, I understand why you were, but really, I don't need to be checked up on every half hour."

"Well you said you understand why I was worried so I don't need to repeat myself." He turned to leave the room but was caught by May who hugged him from behind.

"You don't have to leave you know." She buried her face into the back of his t-shirt. "I'd love it if you stayed."

Paul walked into the large dining room; he filed into it with every other refugee staying in the tower. A small head of blonde hair appeared beside him.

"Hiya Paul!" Bonnie greeted cheekily, Dedenne was resting on her shoulder. Upon seeing Paul, the little electric mouse climbed up his arm and perched on his shoulder instead. "Isn't my big bro such a cool battler?" Her eyes practically sparkled as she looked up at him. "I want to be as good of a battler as he is!" She declared.

"You might." He said curtly.

Bonnie grabbed one of his hands with her own, "Let's sit over there with Clemont and Serena! Oh! Even Brock is there!" she dragged him over and ordered him to sit next to her, he begrudgingly took the seat.

"Hello Bonnie, Paul!" Brock greeted with a wave. "How are you two?"

"I'm great!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Isn't Clemont the best gym leader ever, he only lost one battle!" She looked to her brother with a big grin.

A light dust of a blush spread over the blond's cheeks, "I'm not as good as you think Bonnie." Clemont said as he nervously took off his glasses and started to clean them.

"Of course you are!" Bonnie exclaimed, "My big brother will always be the best!" She cheered. "You'll always be the best!"

"Bonnie's right you know." Serena added in with a smile. "You're a brilliant gym leader and an awesome big brother!"

If it was possible, Clemont's blush turned an even deeper shade of red, almost engulfing his whole face. "T-thanks." He stuttered out.

"Look!" Bonnie shouted and jumped up from her chair, dashing away to the doorway.

"You were challenging the gyms in Hoenn I presume." Brock pushed, "How many badges did you get?" He asked as he picked up a roll from the plate in front of him. Brock ripped it open and reached for a small basket full of butter.

"Five."

"Oh, so you challenged May's father?"

"Yes, that's how they found out I was in Hoenn, Dawn was with them."

"I was with whom?" A new voice spoke. Paul looked beside him as Bonnie pushed Dawn into her old chair; too plates of food were on a tray. Dawn picked up one of the plates and placed it in front of him.

"Thanks." He muttered, "I said that you were with May and Drew."

"When? I wasn't with them today."

"When you met at Norman's gym." Brock spoke up; a bite was taken out of his roll.

"Oh! Now I understand." Dawn grinned as she stopped up a forkful of potatoes. "What we're you guys all doing today?"

"Clemont was building an antenna." Serena said with smile.

Dawn nodded, "I think somebody told me about that!" She spoke excitedly.

"I helped move more things around with my siblings." Brock shrugged. "Not very interesting."

"I saw you come in during Clemont gym battles, where we're you?" Dawn asked Paul.

Paul glanced at her, "May wanted to go out and look around."

"That's fun." She spoke quietly. "I just slept in and hung around with Misty." She picked up her fork and pushed around her food on her plate before deciding to take a bite of potatoes just like Brock had. "What did you guys do?"

"We went to a couple stores and art museum. The idiot Ash complained the whole time."

"Ash was with you?" Dawn's mood suddenly changed, she looked at him with curiosity.

"If you saw us come into the battlefield, then I think you should have seen him with us." Paul watched her carefully, she was acting a little bit differently then what he was used to seeing her like.

She nodded slowly, "I guess you're right."


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **May 30th, 2006**

Paul sat on the metal bench beside the battlefield. Nobody else was there so he took it as a good opportunity to think about his own training, and the crisis happening around the world. He needed his pokémon to be strong, to prepare them for anything that might come in the future. Now with all the hatred and hurt in the world. Paul instinctively put his hand into his pocket, feeling the six small pokéballs. He pulled them all out and held them in both hands, staring at them. Regardless of how much he pushed his pokémon and seemed like he didn't care. It was the complete opposite. His pokémon were his only friends for the longest time, they were also his first friends. He pulled put his pokégear next and turned it on, placing his pokéballs back into his pocket. He looked through his contacts and paused upon seeing one.

Hesitantly, he clicked on it and held it up to his ear. Like he expected, he was met with a series of obnoxious beeps. Though the noise was annoying, he kept it by his ear. He was secretly hoping for an answer but he knew that it wouldn't come. Once the line went dead and an automatic operator's voice spoke, asking for him to try and call the number again because it couldn't be reached. He finally pulled it away and turned it off.

There was a shuffling noise beside him. "Hi." He turned his head and stared at the person who was sitting next to him, he hasn't seen her in a long time, not since the meeting a few days ago. She wasn't wearing her usual attire either; she was clad in a pair of black sweatpants and a red sweater, on the sweater it read, "Johto Grand Festival 2003". The year surprised Paul; she still had clothing that fit her from three years ago? The clothes he wore in Sinnoh barely fit him by the end of his travels let alone the ones he wore three years prior.

Paul didn't answer her; he was confused by seeing May. He wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought about it and decided not to. Asking if people were okay sometimes made situations worse, he knew May wasn't and he didn't want to remind her of the troubles back home.

"I'm okay," She said as if she could read his mind. She gave him a small smile. "I'm slowly getting over it. I heard about what happened to Sinnoh." She paused for a moment, "Are you feeling okay?" Her blue eyes focused on him, a concerned look swam through them. Her eyes were so similar to the masses of blue eyes in this building, similar to Dawn and Serena's, and even Bonnie and Clemont's. The colours were all slightly different, yet they had the same easiness to read, all emotions clearly visible, like how you could easily see through clean water.

Paul took a moment, he wanted to lie but what good would that do? She was in the same situation as him. "Not particularly." He said slowly, "Reggie is my only family so I am kind of worried about him." He looked at her from the corner of his eye, he wasn't one for much emotion but he didn't know why he was telling May so much, he wouldn't tell any other person, so why her? It's not like they were exactly close, fighting a lot and having different opinions caused them to clash very often, yet he felt as if May was the perfect person to confide in.

"Kind of?" She probed, "I think it's more like terrified for him." She brushed her loose hair back over her shoulder. "I know of your sleeping problem; your insomnia, it's not that hard to figure out when we've been traveling with another for a while. Maybe you should go to a pharmacy or a doctor, to get a prescription to help you. I'm worried to be honest." She said blatantly.

"Why would you be worried? It's my problem, you shouldn't worry about it."

She gave him a critical look, "People who care for their friends will worry. I'd be willing to go with you to an appointment if you want. I want you to have a good sleep; it only affects you worse during the day, caffeine won't be all that helpful to you."

Paul shrugged lightly, "I'll think about it." He then decided to swing the conversation in another direction. "Are you and Drew okay?" Paul had decided to ask, if they were friends like she said, then she obviously would care if he probed.

May rocked herself back and forth slightly on the metal bleachers, "Drew's fine, I'm getting there."

Paul nodded slowly, "Dawn's been bothering me because she hasn't seen either if you. She thinks that you two are dating or something."

May stared at him, "Well I haven't been in the mood to see anyone, and Drew's been bothering me the whole time about not seeing anybody, and no we're not dating." She shrugged, "Though I could ask the same question about you and Dawn. What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing." He replied swiftly. "If there was, do you honestly think you wouldn't have heard of it by now? She would tell anybody she could if she as dating somebody."

"I guess you're right." May was analyzing his face. "Would you tell me if you two had anything going on?" An evil glint flashed in May's eyes. "Do you _like_ Dawn?"

Paul gave her a look, "I doubt I would tell you. Why are we even talking about this?"

"You brought it up." May answered with a sly grin. "I want to know everything about my best friends!"

"Best friends?" He questioned.

May nodded quickly, "Oh yes! You, Dawn, Ash, Brock and Drew. You five are my favourite people; you're all my best friends!"

"I don't know if I want to be on the same level as Ash."

May laughed at that. "Don't worry; you're much higher on my best friends list." She gave him a wink, Paul rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" A voice echoed through the empty gym battlefield. "That's not fair! You have known me longer than Paul."

May waved to Ash who was walking towards them. "Yeah, but Paul's a lot calmer than you. I don't get mad at him as much."

Paul gave her a look of pure surprise, "Are you being serious?"

"Yep!" She smiled. "I only get mad at you once a day, I get mad at Ash like three times a day. It's a nice break."

"Hey!" Ash said angrily, "It wasn't three times a day!"

"Oh right..." May muttered with a nod, "It was more like five."

"No it wasn't!" Ash climbed up onto the bleachers and took a seat in front of them. "You hardly ever got mad at me!" He pointed an accusing finger at her then pointed to himself, and then back at her again.

May rolled her eyes, "Yes of course, maybe in your world."

Ash snorted and looked away with a pout, his arms crossed defensively over his chest. "Anyway, Drew's been looking for you. He keeps coming into Clemont's lab thing while he's working."

"What's Clemont making?" May asked, her eyes sparkled, at that question; Ash's eyes were just like May's, sparkling with excitement at the idea of a new invention from the blond haired boy.

"An antenna to try and contact the other regions like Sinnoh, Hoenn too but the lines are down in some places."

May clasped her hands together, "Wow, that's so cool! I'm so glad that you made friends with a scientist!" Ash quickly nodded in agreement.

Paul stared at the two, "He's an inventor—" He started.

"A scientist too!" Ash interrupted, "An electrical scientist!"

"Engineer." Paul rudely stated. "An inventor and engineer. Just because electricity is learned as a science, doesn't mean that he is a scientist. Clemont doesn't refer to himself as a scientist, he refers to himself as an engineer and inventor, so does his sister."

"I guess so." Ash agreed with a nod. He then went off on a rant about some other topic that neither May or him understood. The two shared a glance with another then stared at the ongoing, talkative black haired man.

Suddenly, May interrupted him. "Hey, I have an idea, how about we all go out on a field trip!"

"To where?" Paul asked slowly. He wasn't in the mood to leave the tower; the forecast was very high today, higher than it would be in Sinnoh. Paul was not a person who wore shorts; he'd rather not walk into the blaring heat with a pair of black pants.

May shrugged, "To somewhere I find interesting."

"Okay!" Ash said cheerily and jumped up from his spot on the metal bleachers.

"Paul, you're coming too. You don't have a choice."

Paul stared at her, "I do have a choice and I am not going outside." He pointed to her outfit, "If you do go outside, you'll have a heat stroke, and you're not covered for medical bills in Kalos."

May rolled her eye and curled her fingers around his wrist. "Come on Paul, it'll be fun. I really want you to come." She smiled gently at him. "If you're so worried about me fainting, then I'll change and we can go!"

Paul grumbled and let out an annoyed, "Fine."

May cheered happily and smothered him in a hug. "Thanks Paul! I'll be back in a second, that is if I don't have Drew stalking my door again." She bounded away after that.

Ash laughed at that. "I'm sure you'll be fine, he's probably still with Clemont, or Cilan and Brock have distracted him for a bit." May paused at the door and gave Ash a thumbs up before hurrying into the hallway.

May held onto both Ash and Paul's wrists the whole time as she pulled them into various buildings throughout Lumiose City. She brought them to various different clothing stores, stores that sold mega stones, and even to the famous art museum. Paul quite enjoyed the last stop at the museum, it was relaxing.

The three had now made their way back to the tower; most of the people staying there were sitting on the bleachers by the battlefield. Clemont was standing on one end, talking enthusiastically to a young trainer who was standing opposite to him. May pushed both Paul and Ash towards the metal bleachers as well.

There was a large open spot next to Iris; she was madly glaring at her pokégear. May pulled Ash and Paul over next to her, she took the spot closest to the purple haired girl, leaving hint to sit in between many and Ash much to his dislike.

"Hey Cilan!" Ash announced loudly to the green haired man sitting next to the ferocious Iris.

Cilan waved to Ash as he leaned forward, "Hello Ash, Paul and May! How are you three today?"

"We're great!" Ash quickly replied, "We just came back from shopping and we went to the art museum!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Cilan's smile grew bigger at that, if that was even possible. "Ah the love aroma of classic art! I am also an art connoisseur! Did you know that—"

Iris slapped her hand over his mouth, "I am not in the mood to listen to you right now." She grated out. "Trip and Georgia already got me angry today; you don't need to add onto it."

Ash leaned forward more, "Trip and Georgia?" He questioned, "I didn't expect you to still be talking to them."

Iris grumbled, "I am. I still talk to all of them, Stephan, Bianca, Cameron, all of them."

"Cameron?" Ash questioned, "We only knew him for about a week."

"We also talk to Burgundy too, and Luke." Cilan added in.

Ash frowned and stood up, snatching Iris' pokégear from her hands. "Ash you little—" Ash cut her off by holding up his hand, Iris slapped it away. "I will kill you, give it back!" Paul watched as Ash opened the camera and took a picture of him and the others beside him, meaning Paul himself, May, Iris and Cilan. Paul leaned back so he couldn't be in the picture. "Ash!" Iris shouted angrily. Ash quickly sent the picture to various contacts he most likely knew adding in, "it's ash! i stole irises phone :D"

Paul cringed at his grammar and his lack of use of capital letters.

Almost instantly, Ash got replies from the various people he contacted. "Ash, I swear to Arceus, you better not have sent that to any of the people I work with! Definitely not Alder or Drayden!"

"Oops?" Ash replied with a smirk, "Said that too late!" He looked up at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the pokégear. A hand slapped down on the back of his head. "Ow!" He exclaimed, "I was kidding!" He reached a hand up to rub the back of his head. Ash looked behind him and made eye contact with an angry looking Misty.

"Give it back to her; what she sends people is more important than what you do." The red-head stated.

Ash let out a long dragging sigh followed by a, "Fine." and handed the pokégear back to the frustrated purple haired girl.

Iris snatched it back from him aggressively and went through various texts. "Now they what your number." She muttered.

Ash perked up, "Who?

"Stephan, Cameron and Bianca."

"Give it to them!" Ash replied with a grin and looked up at his girlfriend; he patted the empty spot next to him, "Sit with me!" He grinned up at her. Misty gave him an eye roll and sat next to him. He looked towards Clemont, "Did his challengers show up?"

"Yes, all three of them." Misty replied, "This is the last one."

Ash frowned, "Aw really? I wanted to see all of them!" He slouched forward with a groan, "I knew we shouldn't have gone to that museum!"

Ash caught May's attention and she leaned forward to glare at him, "It was a brilliant idea!" May felt a tap on her shoulder and looked behind her. Paul did too. Drew was standing there. May sighed and stood up. "I'll see you later Paul." She waved to him and trailed the green-haired man out of the battlefield.

* * *

Drew led May down a hallway and pushed open a door, it was comfy living room like place. Various couches and chairs were placed about the room; a large bookshelf was next to the television. "Are you honestly going to lecture me?" She asked, he didn't answer. "I'm feeling better, I wanted to go out and look around. I wasn't by myself I had Ash and Paul with me. It's not like if I was going to be in trouble if that's what was worrying you. I wanted to go outside and go shopping and we even went and looked at all the beautiful art."

"If you wanted to go outside you could have just asked me." Drew stated, "I'm angry that you didn't."

"I don't need to be constantly monitored." May retorted, "I am not a child, it's not something necessary for you to do."

Drew ran his fingers through his hair. "You were depressed May, don't bother denying it, I know what depression looks like. Do you know what happens to people who are upset like that? Do you know what happens to people who are depressed and just disappear without a word?"

"I wouldn't—" May started.

"Most of the time people wouldn't but it happens May. One person that I have loved has done something that they 'wouldn't do'. You doing that would be so much worse than losing my father."

"Your father...?" Drew has never told May the whereabouts of his father. Know knowing where he really was, she didn't want to know.

Drew barely stopped his rant. "And to be perfectly honest, I love you a whole lot more than I ever did for him."

May stared at him. "W-what are you-?"

Drew shrugged, not fazed at all like she was, "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked and looked away for a moment.

"I already told you, I'm feeling better." She looked away too as a small blush dusted over of her cheeks. "I get that your worried about me and stuff, I understand why you were, but really, I don't need to be checked up on every half hour."

"Well you said you understand why I was worried so I don't need to repeat myself." He turned to leave the room but was caught by May who hugged him from behind.

"You don't have to leave you know." She buried her face into the back of his t-shirt. "I'd love it if you stayed."

* * *

Paul walked into the large dining room; he filed into it with every other refugee staying in the tower. A small head of blonde hair appeared beside him.

"Hiya Paul!" Bonnie greeted cheekily, Dedenne was resting on her shoulder. Upon seeing Paul, the little electric mouse climbed up his arm and perched on his shoulder instead. "Isn't my big bro such a cool battler?" Her eyes practically sparkled as she looked up at him. "I want to be as good of a battler as he is!" She declared.

"You might." He said curtly.

Bonnie grabbed one of his hands with her own, "Let's sit over there with Clemont and Serena! Oh! Even Brock is there!" she dragged him over and ordered him to sit next to her, he begrudgingly took the seat.

"Hello Bonnie, Paul!" Brock greeted with a wave. "How are you two?"

"I'm great!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Isn't Clemont the best gym leader ever, he only lost one battle!" She looked to her brother with a big grin.

A light dust of a blush spread over the blond's cheeks, "I'm not as good as you think Bonnie." Clemont said as he nervously took off his glasses and started to clean them.

"Of course you are!" Bonnie exclaimed, "My big brother will always be the best!" She cheered. "You'll always be the best!"

"Bonnie's right you know." Serena added in with a smile. "You're a brilliant gym leader and an awesome big brother!"

If it was possible, Clemont's blush turned an even deeper shade of red, almost engulfing his whole face. "T-thanks." He stuttered out.

"Look!" Bonnie shouted and jumped up from her chair, dashing away to the doorway.

"You were challenging the gyms in Hoenn I presume." Brock pushed, "How many badges did you get?" He asked as he picked up a roll from the plate in front of him. Brock ripped it open and reached for a small basket full of butter.

"Five."

"Oh, so you challenged May's father?"

"Yes, that's how they found out I was in Hoenn, Dawn was with them."

"I was with whom?" A new voice spoke. Paul looked beside him as Bonnie pushed Dawn into her old chair; too plates of food were on a tray. Dawn picked up one of the plates and placed it in front of him.

"Thanks." He muttered, "I said that you were with May and Drew."

"When? I wasn't with them today."

"When you met at Norman's gym." Brock spoke up; a bite was taken out of his roll.

"Oh! Now I understand." Dawn grinned as she stopped up a forkful of potatoes. "What we're you guys all doing today?"

"Clemont was building an antenna." Serena said with smile.

Dawn nodded, "I think somebody told me about that!" She spoke excitedly.

"I helped move more things around with my siblings." Brock shrugged. "Not very interesting."

"I saw you come in during Clemont gym battles, where we're you?" Dawn asked Paul.

Paul glanced at her, "May wanted to go out and look around."

"That's fun." She spoke quietly. "I just slept in and hung around with Misty." She picked up her fork and pushed around her food on her plate before deciding to take a bite of potatoes just like Brock had. "What did you guys do?"

"We went to a couple stores and art museum. The idiot Ash complained the whole time."

"Ash was with you?" Dawn's mood suddenly changed, she looked at him with curiosity.

"If you saw us come into the battlefield, then I think you should have seen him with us." Paul watched her carefully, she was acting a little bit differently then what he was used to seeing her like.

She nodded slowly, "I guess you're right."

We got a new router hurray! Long chapter too! Somebody commented, wanting more contestshipping and they must have mind reading skills because I already had this planned to be in this chapter!

* * *

 **Hope you enjoy it and have a lovely winter break!**

 **Also, there is a new tumblr blog made specifically for this fanfiction! So if you have a tumblr account, follow The Carriers of Salvation!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **May 30th, 2006**

Paul jumped slightly as the door to his room was slammed open, he turned around from the desk he was sitting at and looked at the person standing there. May had a huge grin on her face.

"Paul! Stand up!" She ordered and pointed a finger at him.

He stared at her, "What?"

"I said stand up! I have very important news!" She exclaimed loudly and grabbed a hold of his arm, yanking it.

He stared at her suspiciously, placing his bookmark in his book then closed it. He stood up and looked down at her, "What do you want?"

May rocked back and forth on her feet before skipping over to him, "Guess what happened!" She smiled up at him.

Paul frowned, "Presuming that I wasn't there, how would I be able to guess?" He remarked.

May rolled her eyes and slapped his arm lightly, "You're not fun!" She whined slightly, "Just guess! It'll be worth it, I promise!"

"I don't know, you ate your favourite food at dinner?"

"Well yes." May nodded, "But something better happened!"

"What?" He spoke in disinterest.

May clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Drew said he loved me!"

Paul chocked on his spit. He covered his mouth with his hand as he coughed, "What?" He said hoarsely. "You said that there was nothing going on with you two."

May shrugged, "Well as far as I knew there wasn't, I didn't see any signs."

"How the hell did you not see that?" Paul retorted quickly, "Do you need glasses like your brother?"

May snorted, "Don't be rude, you know Dawn doesn't like that kind of language."

"What Dawn's likes and dislikes doesn't concern me. I'll say what I want."

She laughed at that, "I don't believe you. Anyway, it wasn't like we were dating then or anything so."

"Are you dating now?" He asked. May looked up at him with a sly smirk; Paul couldn't help the smile that crawled its way up onto his mouth.

May leapt forward, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "I'm so happy!" She looked up at him with a huge smile, "Also you look adorable when you smile!" She placed a hand on his cheek and pinched it. There was a noise from the door, like it was being closed. Both May and Paul looked towards it but noticed no difference from before. May just shrugged and looked at Paul again, "I'm sure Dawn will adore your smile right?" She gave him a wink.

Paul frowned, "Just because you're in a relationship now doesn't mean that you get to force me into one." He glared lightly at her.

May threw her head back in another laugh and stepped away from him. "It was worth trying right?" She then reached forward and poked him in the chest. "You know, you're definitely my best friend. Drew was a little jealous of me spending time with you earlier you know. He didn't admit it, but it was so obvious, so I thank you for that." An evil glint flooded through her eyes, "I can make somebody jealous too if you ever want me to! I'm just a call away!"

"I don't need help." Paul stated.

"Oh! So you are interested in someone?" She grinned.

Paul rolled his eyes, "Not in the slightest."

"Liar," May spoke cheekily, "anyway, I'm going to go now!" She made to her way, opening it. She was halfway out the door when she waved goodbye, Paul gave her a curt wave back before walking back to his desk, staring at the title of the book, _Legendries Legacies_.

* * *

 **May 31st, 2006**

There was a loud knocking on Paul's door. He ignored it. Though ignoring the cacophonous noise was useless. Whoever was banging on the door wasn't going to give up anytime soon. Paul sat up and got out of the bed, picking his shirt up off of the floor and pulling it back on. He tore the door open, the person standing there almost fell over, Iris was undoubtedly leaning on the door. "What?" Paul demanded harshly as he glared at her, she hardly seemed fazed.

"Important meeting." She stated plainly, "Get properly dressed and meet in the big living room. Make sure you're presentable, somebody important is here." She turned and stalked down the hall, annoyingly hitting the next door. He glowered at her. Paul shut the door loudly and snatched his pokégear off of his bedside table, turning it on to see the time. The clock read barely 4:30 in the morning.

"What the hell?" He grumbled and flicked on the bedside light. "Who decided to show up at four in the morning?" He spat to nobody in particular. Paul picked up one of his pokéballs on his bedside table and released his pokémon.

"Weavile!" It seemed slightly angry but also relieved to be out; it yawned and rubbed an eye tiredly.

"You can be out for a bit." He said and picked up his bag, sitting back on the bed. He pulled out various pieces of clothing, making a mental note to wash his dirty clothes again. "There's some meeting or whatever, you can come with me there too." Weavile smirked up at Paul and climbed its way onto his bed. "You better not shred anything with your claws.

"Vile!" Weavile said with a roll of its eyes.

Paul walked down the stairs, Weavile trailing after him closely. Paul pushed open the door to the designated room that he was expected in. He noticed that a few people were already inside. Serena was sitting on the couch next to Cilan; the blonde girl was a great contrast to the connoisseur. Serena looked like she was almost dead, her head was resting in her hand while her eyes were half lidded, she quickly moved her free hand up to cover her mouth, hiding a yawn. Cilan on the other hand, was wide awake, staring intently at two people on the other side of the room. Paul followed his gaze and his eyes locked with the Kalos Champion, she gave him a polite wave, which he returned, then went back to talking with Clemont who was next to her along with a girl with bright pink hair who he didn't recognise. He was caught off guard; he didn't expect this 'important person' would be the champion herself. He recalled seeing something on the news that claimed that Diantha was fairly close with the Sinnoh Champion Cynthia, but really, who knows if that was another thing made up by the media or not.

"Paul!" He turned his head in the direction that he was called; May was standing there, beaming and having a firm hold on Drew's arm. Drew's face broke out in a small blush of embarrassment as he made eye contact with Paul. Drew quickly looked away from him. Paul approached them regardless.

"You don't have to explain, I was told last night by her." Drew's head quickly turned to May who giggled behind a hand.

"He's so embarrassed, isn't that cute?" She poked his red cheek.

"I never once thought Drew was cute." Paul rebutted.

"And I'm glad about that." Drew replied.

"Are you three actually being serious?" A loud voice was heard, causing Paul to wince slightly. He recognised that angry voice, hearing it last night as Ash annoyed his girlfriend to no end. This time though, Paul felt a little bit of remorse for the frustrated girl, she was literally _dragging_ three people, who were lying on the ground, still half asleep. Paul wasn't surprised to see Ash as one of them; however, he was surprised to see Brock and Tracey also being dragged, especially the green-haired artist. "Get up, the champion is here!" She ordered, glancing nervously in Diantha's direction. "Are you really going to be this disrespectful?"

Brock jumped up upon hearing his friend's words, rushing over to Diantha and grabbing a hold of her hand, "My lovely! You're just as beautiful as—" He was caught off when the champion pulled her hand away from him.

"I'm sorry." She said. "You are indeed a very attractive person but are you not with the Pike Queen, Lucy Morinelli?" At that Brock collapsed and began to weep on the floor.

"Oh my beautiful Lucy, how I miss her so!" He exclaimed through sobs.

Misty glared at Brock who was grovelling on the ground, she then turned to Ash, Tracey had gotten up and collapsed on the couch between Serena and Cilan. Serena began to lean on the artist slightly. "Ash honestly, get up."

Ash waved a hand from where he was lying on the carpeted floor, "She knows me, plus it's too early." He mumbled into the floor.

Misty sighed and just walked away from him, standing by the large bookshelf. "I'm sorry Diantha." She apologised.

"It's fine," Diantha waved her hand, "it's early in the morning, I expected nothing less, it is my fault for coming so early."

Weavile looked at Paul curiously, "Weavile?" It spoke as it eyed the two men still lying on the floor. Suddenly a flash of bright red light appeared from Misty's hip and a Psyduck appeared.

"Psy!" It shouted and began to race around the room, running into various things, furniture and people.

Misty rubbed her temples, "Not you too!" She groaned, "Psyduck return." She muttered as she placed the strange water type back into its pokéball.

Iris walked into the room with Gary by her side; everyone was there, all but Dawn. "Where's Dawn?" May asked.

"She's sick." Iris replied quickly, too quickly for Paul's liking. "She's not coming."

"That's awful." Diantha said sadly, "She'll just have to be informed after I suppose." Diantha cleared her throat, "Anyway, this here is Carrie," she gestured to the pink haired girl beside her, "she is currently representing the seventh Gym Leader in Kalos, Olympia. Since some of you might not know, Olympia is a psychic user; she not only specializes in that type, but she can also see premonitions with her use of the psychic powers that she can manipulate. Olympia is busy working within her own gym for the world issues happening right now, and cannot be here today, so Carrie has been sent here to gather the six people who of which will travel to Anistar City with me and will be told of the rest of your mission of sorts. Please do not ask questions as this is to be kept as secret as possible, but I will allow you to know that these six will not be staying in the region after their travels to Anistar." Dianthia turned to Carrie, "Do you remember the faces?"

Carrie nodded, not saying a word. She closed her eyes and began to hum something faint; her eyes then flashed open, shining a bright blue. She opened her mouth and began to speak. "Six have been chosen, six have been declared..." She trailed off, her hair began to flow around her as her eyes changed from a bright blue to a brilliant green, "Six has become twelve, two hailing from six regions, twelve have been chosen, twelve have been decided. Twelve carriers will be brought forth to this destruction, step forward as you name has been spoken." The air felt heavy in the room, heavy and humid.

"Numéro un, Ash Ketchum." Her voice had changed from what it had sounded like before, it had a very thick Kalosian accent than it did when she first spoke. Paul glanced to Ash who was more awake now, sitting on the ground and scratching his head.

"Numéro deux, Iris Arifiani." Iris jerked her head in the direction of Carrie.

"Numéro trois, Paul Robelledo." Paul felt himself tense up slightly, though he should have expected it, two from each region, there were only two from Sinnoh here.

"Numéro quatre, Drew Hayden." Drew looked up from where he was standing

"Numéro cinq, Misty Waterflower."

"Numéro six, Clemont Lisicio."

"Numéro sept, Serena Paschall."

"Numéro huit, Cilan Griffith."

"Numéro neuf, May Maple."

"Numéro dix, Lyra Noisi."

"Numéro onze, Gary Oak."

"Numéro douze, Dawn Berlitz. "

Paul felt himself relax a bit when he heard the last name be called out. He knew that Dawn was coming, but just hearing her name helped to assure him for sure, but he still felt worried, if she really was sick, how would she be able to make the journey?

"Wait..." Ash started, "There was only one from Johto, and she's not even here." Carrie's eyes began to dim back into their normal amber colour. "There were three from Kanto though and you said that there would be two from each region."

"I was born in Johto." May stated. "We moved to Hoenn when my dad got a job as a gym leader." She shrugged.

"But Serena was born in Kanto." Ash added, "That doesn't make sense." He frowned.

"Why do you think Cilan is bilingual?" Iris spoke.

Cilan nodded slowly. "I don't know if this counts, but both of my parents were from Kalos, my brothers and I were born in Unova however..."

Paul began to walk towards the door, "Where are you going?" May asked.

"I'm getting Dawn." He replied and left the room, ignoring Iris' calls to him.

* * *

 **May 31st, 2006**

Paul tested the doorknob to Dawn's room; it was unlocked so he slowly opened it, resulting in a pitch black room, or not so much anymore thanks to the hallway lighting. Her room had a different layout from his, her bed was not right next to the door, it also had a coffee table instead of a desk which was beside the door. He peered into the room and saw a lump of blankets cocooning her sleeping figure. He noticed a tall lamp next to her couch which wasn't too far away; he gently closed the door and felt his way over to the lamp. Finally finding what he was looking for, he switched it on. It illuminated the room just enough with its warm yellow glow, enough to not awaken the sleeping blue-haired girl, and also provide him with a good amount of light to be able to see. His pokégear vibrated in his pocket, he pulled it out and noticed a message from May.

'We're leaving at 9.'

Paul cautiously walked over to the still sleeping coordinator, she had the blanket pooled around her and pulled over her head like a hood, her blue hair was thrown behind her head and stuck out from under the blanket, he could see the various knots and tangles throughout it from sleeping, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, "Dawn, get up."

She made a noise of surprise and sat up, "I'm tired," she complained sleepily, "and my stomach hurts."

Paul checked the time; they still had a few hours before they had to leave. If he let her sleep until eight, that would give her an extra three hours of sleep, "Just go back to sleep, I'll come back and wake you up later." Dawn slowly laid herself back down, her eyes already closed. Paul turned to leave when she curled her fingers around his wrist.

"Can you please stay?" One eye was open as he stared down at her, "Please?" She repeated, moving over on her bed to make room for him.

Paul grumbled then lay down in the open space next to her. "This wasn't supposed to happen three times, let alone one." He muttered quietly. "But—whatever."

Dawn quickly sat up, startling Paul a bit. She turned to him with half lidded eyes and said, "Are you Paul?"

Paul frowned as get stared at her, "Yeah?" He spoke slowly.

Dawn didn't say anything for a moment. "Oh." She eventually mumbled and lay back down. "That's okay. I'm still mad at you. Don't talk to me." She pulled her blanket over her head and rolled over to face him. Her eyes were closed; her breathing was still slow as it was before.

Mad? When did Paul make her mad? He began to run through what he did yesterday. Dawn seemed a little upset about him leaving with May and Ash for some reason. He did also speak to her at dinner; he didn't remember seeing her eat a lot either. Maybe she's sick because she didn't eat, and why would she be mad from dinner, he acted the same way get had always had, did he not?

Dawn sighed loudly in her sleep and a big smile broke out on her face.

Forty-five minutes have passed since Dawn fell back asleep. Paul was getting tired himself. A while after Dawn fell asleep, Paul decided that he would too, like May had said the day before, losing sleep won't help him any. Paul found it a bit strange, the other two times him and Dawn had shared a bed, he fell asleep fast and deeply, this time, however, was the complete opposite. He was wide awake even though he had his eyes closed for the prolonged time and his mind clear, nothing happened. No entering REM, no endless soothing darkness of sleep.

Paul rolled over and glared at Dawn, why couldn't his body copy hers? He was tired and wanted to sleep.

His harsh glare faded as he simply stared at the blue-haired girl. She had cocooned herself again, but she had also given him some of the blanket.

Dawn looked so peaceful; he felt his stomach lurch slightly as he remembered that she was angry with him. He was hoping that it was just something she said as she was mostly asleep, but she was also awake enough to give such an answer.

Dawn shifted slightly, her hair becoming free from the blanket hood and pooling around her head. No matter how far you could stand, you would still be able to see the huge knots taking over her hair. He knew of the pain of brushing them out since his was long enough to pull back into a ponytail, not quite as long as Reggie's, a length he would never allow it to become ever. He grabbed the hair that had cone free and began to pull apart the mat in it. The hair was so tightly caught together; he was surprised that she would actually brush something out like this daily, or more often than that. Despite it being rough with knots, it was still very soft.

Just brushing through the hair helped his eyes start to droop, and before he knew it, he too started to drift off into sleep.

Paul woke up and the first thing he did was check the time, they still had an hour to pack which was very helpful timing. Paul looked down, Dawn had huddled closer to him in her sleep and the blanket was no longer covering her head. "Dawn," he called and shook her shoulder, "get up, we have to leave."

Dawn lifted her head up a little, "What?" She looked around the room, and then looked at him.

"We need to pack up and leave."

"Why?" She sat up, making the blanket fall off of her chest and revealed her bright pink t-shirt.

"Diantha came with a psychic—"

Dawn quickly interjected, "Diantha, the champion?"

"Yes, all we really know is that twelve of us need to leave the region. You need to hurry and get ready because we're leaving in an hour." Paul stood up from the bed, "I'll come back by then."

"Don't bother." Dawn said flatly, looking away from him.

"I kind of have to." Paul retorted, "With you pretending to be sick, you missed the meeting and have no idea what's going on."

Dawn still didn't look at him, making him more frustrated, "If anything, I'll ask someone else for help, like Iris or Serena, they're more helpful than you."

"Of course, because I haven't been helpful to you at all lately, I apologise for actually being nice to somebody for once."

"You were never nice to anybody."

"That's complete bullshit and you know it." Paul spat, "What the hell do you think I was doing to you, May and Drew? What do you think I was doing while putting up with that idiot Ash for three weeks?"

"You hate everybody around you! You always comment on how much of an idiot Ash is, not to mention your constant nitpicking of others. You're always pissed off with everyone, even your pokémon! They probably wouldn't even be with you if they weren't under your torture."

Paul glared at her, "Me being pissy? Like you aren't right now, you're so damn annoying! Don't you dare bring my pokémon into this either, my pokémon have just enough rights as any other, if they wanted to leave then they would have already, it's a wonder how yours haven't with your constant nagging. I wish you never followed me; there was a reason why I said no. You know what? Wherever we're going, I want you to stay away from me. Right now I'd rather be one of the people labelled as missing in Hoenn then be near you." He glared at her and marched out the door, closing it with a loud slam.

Paul clenched his fists and stormed down the hall, ignoring the calls from somebody, whoever they were, from their doorway.

Dawn sat on her bed, knotted hair hanging messily around her as tears streamed down her face, leaving long wet trails down her cheeks and onto her chin. She pulled the white comforter up to her face and cried, and cried, and cried. She couldn't help the flow of tears. She would never be able to stop them if she tried, they would keep coming until she had run dry of all the tears that resided in her body. Why did people have to cry when upset? Why did she have to be upset? Why did she have to be angry? Why did she have to be hurt when she saw what she did?

Her whole body ached, not only from the searing pain in her lower abdomen, but the majority of it radiated from her heart, why was this so painful? She now understood how it was possible for people to actually die of heartbreak. It was the most painful thing she has ever experienced. The explosion of emotions didn't come from the same thing that had created her abdomen pain, if anything it aided in only the tiniest amount.

Tears still surfaced and fell from her eyes, soaking her comforter, not that it actually provided any comfort to her as it smelled exactly like he did, she remembered asking him to stay. She wished that he still stayed, she wished to take back everything, she didn't expect this much hurt, she didn't think that this was even possible.

Ever since she first met Paul, she thought he was different. She always wanted to for a strong and unbreakable bond with him, and she started to build it up strongly, but all at once it crashed down.

She often caught herself thinking about him during her journey through Sinnoh and even after, feeling lonely when she hadn't seen him after a long stretch of time. Hoenn was like a relief to her, she was overjoyed to see his face again, she was even happier than when she reunited with Ash and Brock again in the past month.

Dawn always felt the need to be with him. She had had his pokégear number for a very long time, but whenever she would try to call she would get a rush of nervousness, like she felt in Petalburg City. Her excitement to actually see him again, the thrill of making eye contact and speaking to him in real life, face to face. She didn't regret following him, not at all, but he did as he clearly stated.

 _"I wish you never followed me."_

Thinking of the hatred in his voice pierced her heart with more pain. She cried more. She wished that she could be in his hold, embracing him like they had happened to do back when they were both sick before the threat of evil coming to the world. She felt safe while he held her even though he was fast asleep, she never felt so safe and warm and even loved as she did then. She hoped that he felt the exact same three things she did. Especially the last one.

There was nobody that she ever felt as strongly for as she did to him. There are stories, even proof from science, that people know when they have met the one person that they can't live their lives without. That person is always in their mind, the first person they want to see, the last one to see. The only one to see. They are the person that they always want to be with for as long as they can. People know when they have met their soul mate and Dawn knew that she had met hers back when she was a measly twelve-year-old girl.

Joining him in Hoenn has made her finally figure out why she always thought of him, why she missed him so much, why she wanted to be his best friend, why she wanted to be around him.

Hoenn helped her solidify their bond, one that Dawn was pleading and wishing for the most in her life. She was pleading that he felt the same as she did, that he thought of her the same as she did. That Paul's soul mate was Dawn. She loved that strange, moody and quiet man, she couldn't help it.

Dawn knew that her mother wouldn't be thrilled to know that she was in love with somebody who was two years older than her, at least not now. Dawn didn't understand why it was weird for a sixteen-year-old to be in love with somebody who was barely an adult. Was it the adult title? It didn't matter; all she knew is that she ruined any chances at all.

He could never love her. There was no way after the hatred that came from his voice, the harsh stare that she had avoided purposely, but still knew was there. She wished that she could bring back time and prevent this from ever happening.

But if she had looked into his eyes, she would have been able to see that he had let his guard down and his emotions were completely readable, though she would never know what he was thinking because she didn't look.

However, one thing did see it. A tiny little round blue head was watching the whole thing unfold from a pillow on the floor under the coffee table. This thing had uncharacteristically ran after the purple-haired trainer in a frantic hope to drag him back to her room.

However, one thing did see it. A tiny little round blue head was watching the whole thing unfold from a pillow on the floor under the coffee table. This thing had uncharacteristically ran after the purple-haired trainer in a frantic hope to drag him back to her room.

* * *

 **Hey guys! For those of you who celebreate it, Merry Christmas! I would have wrote something Christmasy in this chapter but right now in this story it's early June. Christmas in June...?**

 **Since it's winter, even though there's no snow, it got me thinking of my favourite pokemon, Glaceon! Sure none of the Eeveelutions are all that powerful, but I've had a Glaceon in my party since 2007 in Pokemon Diamond! I love my little guy!**

 **In the comments tell me about your favourite pokemon! I love to hear about the variety and why they're your favourite!**

 **Happy Holidays everyone!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

 **May 31st, 2006**

Dawn wrung her hands together as she stood between Iris and Cilan. After Dawn had eased her crying a bit, she called Iris who quickly ran a few flights of stairs to meet her, Cilan following after her, who was equally concerned when he heard her voice through the pokégear that was by Iris' ear.

Paul had still not come to the main battlefield where they were supposed to be meeting before caching a flight to Anistar City. The problem was worse when she couldn't find Piplup anywhere, Iris had sent Ash out to go and find the small blue penguin for her. The black haired man was very confused as to why Dawn didn't herself, but after some pushing from Iris, and even Cilan, he complied and set out on his search.

The few members who weren't traveling were there, Brock, Tracey, and Bonnie. Bonnie was clutching onto Serena and Clemont while sobbing. Brock was talking to Misty, but Dawn clearly noticed his glances in her direction. She noticed him look at her again and she quickly looked to the floor to avoid his worried gaze.

A pair of shoes appeared in her vision and she let out a small, silent sigh as she looked up to the pokémon doctor. "Is everything alright Dawn?" He asked gently. She nodded quickly and put a smile on her face.

"I'm fine Brock." She answered; he stared at her with uncertainty.

"I have nine siblings and I traveled with you for two years, I can tell when something is upsetting you. Are you still sick? I might be able to help you a bit."

"No I'm okay." She answered quickly.

Brock sighed, "Dawn..." He said slowly. "To me, you are just like my sister, if you ever need anything at all while you're gone, just call or text me. I'll answer you immediately." Dawn smiled, this time a genuine one. Seeing this caused Brock to smile himself. He pulled her close and hugged her tight. "Be safe okay?"

"I will, there's no need to worry."

Brock laughed lightly, "You're family Dawn. I'll always worry." Dawn smiled into his chest and hugged him tightly back.

"Thank you Brock. I'm glad to see you again, though I wish it was longer. Whenever we come back, I'll come and see you for sure." She missed the comfort and worry-free lifestyle that followed Brock. Her sadness from an hour ago and from holding onto the tall man caused more tears to surface in her eyes. She couldn't help but cry a little bit more. Brock pulled away and instantly froze when he saw her tears. He quickly pulled her in again and rocked her back and forth.

"Hey Dawn!" Ash called as he walked towards her and Brock, "I found Piplup!" Dawn quickly pulled away from Brock, a few tears slipping down her face. She smiled as she saw her beloved pokémon in Ash's arms. Ash's eyes widened and he hurried over quickly, Piplup squirming free from his grasp. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked gently. Piplup jumped into her arms and she held onto him. "If it was Piplup you're worried about, he was with Paul the whole time. Though the both of them seemed really angry. Piplup was just yelling at him when I found them and Paul looked like he was going to rip the whole tower apart. Maybe Paul will calm down if you talk to him?" She could feel Iris and Cilan's eyes on her, it burned.

"Pip Piplup!" The little penguin yelled and pointed a flipper at the purple-haired trainer who was standing by himself near the doorway, not looking at anything but the wall in the opposite direction from them.

"I-I'm sure Paul's fine." She muttered. "He doesn't need me to talk to him." Ever. She added silently in her head.

Ash frowned; he looked a little surprised by her words. "You sure, he seems to like you the most out of everyone here."

"No, he doesn't like me."

"What are you talking about?" Brock added. "This morning when we met with Diantha he left as soon as he could to make sure you were okay since Iris said you weren't feeling well."

There was a pang in Dawn's chest. "I know he doesn't like me, he regrets meeting me." She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, seeing him talking to May and Drew who were holding onto each other's hands, confusion entered her mind.

"I'm sure he doesn't—" Brock started but was quickly cut off.

"Paul hates me. He said to me very clearly that he does and that he regrets ever knowing me. He never wants to be near me again." Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"What?" Ash said in a tone she has never heard from him before. She stared at him as his brown eyes turned absolutely livid. A sharp contrast from the concern that was in them moments before. "Did he actually say that to you?" He demanded. She turned her gaze to Brock who had his arms crossed; she could see his tense arm muscles under his green long sleeve. His expression was just as angry. Dawn didn't give them any sort of answer. Ash's sharp gaze turned to Paul who didn't spare him a glance. "I gotta punch him." He took a step towards him.

"No don't." Dawn grabbed his wrist. "It's my fault. Don't hurt him, please."

"Like hell it's your fault." Iris interjected.

"Don't swear." Cilan butted in.

"It's not a swear word." She spoke quickly. "Let's go beat him up Ash."

"No please don't!" Dawn said rather loudly, catching the attention from everyone in the room. "Stop it please." She said quieter, "It's not worth it, it's my fault."

"Dawn—" Iris started.

"Don't." Dawn repeated.

"We're leaving in ten minutes!" Diantha called as she entered the silent room. She looked around at the eyes that were on her. Some were upset, while others uncaring.

Brock turned to Dawn, "How about a group hug?" He suggested. "I have to say goodbye to the others I have traveled with too."

Dawn nodded slowly, "That would be nice." She was pulled in by two sets of arms, she was squished between both older men. "You both have grown up so much since I last saw you."

"What about you?" Brock chuckled, "You're so tall now."

Dawn laughed lightly; "I don't know if 5"2 is all that tall, not compared to you guys."

"You were just a baby when you left home." Brock added in.

"You were also taller than me." Ash laughed.

Dawn giggled, "Now you can rest your chin on my head."

"Woah! You're right!" Ash exclaimed excitedly, "You're gonna be my go-to headrest!" In that moment, he did just that.

"Five minutes!" Diantha called again.

Brock sighed, "Remember to call or text me whenever you can."

"I will." She promised. Brock leaned forward and wiped the few tears that were still on her face.

Brock turned to Iris and Cilan, "I'm counting on you two to be with Dawn."

"We won't leave her side!" Iris exclaimed, "Dawn's probably my best girl-friend here! Cilan's too!"

"She's got me too!" Ash announced and moved away to wrap an arm around her shoulder. "Dawn's my top priority, even before Misty!"

Dawn's eyes widened slightly, "N-no, Misty's first."

Ash stared at her, "But Misty's fine, see?" He pointed to his red-headed girlfriend talking to Tracey and her three sisters who have arrived. "Oh there's my mom, I'll be back in a sec!" He then raced off to greet and say goodbye to her.

"I need to say bye too Misty and May, I'll see you later. Remember to-"

"Call and text, I will. Go see the other two." She insisted.

Brock stared at her worriedly, "Alright, be safe."

"I will." She pushed him towards Misty. "Go and see the other two now!"

Brock sent her a wary look but did as she said and went to go and talk to Misty again. Iris nudged Dawn's shoulder, "You're going sit with us on the plane alright?" The taller girl flashed her a toothy grin, Cilan smiled at her too, but much more gently.

"You can always count on us Dawn." Cilan said kindly. "Iris and I will be here for you."

"Thanks you two." Dawn spoke softly. She looked around the room to see if she could spot Brock again, and she did, he was talking to May who was holding onto Drew's hand still, Paul was awkwardly standing behind them with a scowl.

"It's time for us to leave!" Diantha called again. She watched as Brock approached Paul, said something brief to which Paul didn't reply then left. Dawn's mouth turned up in a small smile, she was happy for Brock's protectiveness, her smile soon faded though, she didn't want anything to be mentioned to him as if it was his fault, which it wasn't. She started the argument first all because of something that she saw that hurt her a little, and that she know knew was wrong as she stared at May and Drew's interlocked hands. She was to be blamed for everything.

"Come on Dawn!" Iris smiled at her, "We gotta walk over to the airport room catch our flight which is in a half hour."

"Were very fortunate to be able to stay in the tower which is in the middle of the city, it gives us easy access to just about anywhere in Lumiose." Cilan said, he then added, "Would you like me to carry your bag? You have a lot of stuff in there, a tent, sleeping bag, clothes."

Dawn shook her head, "No, I'm okay. Thanks for the offer though Cilan."

The large group of people filed out of the room, giving last waves to their friends who wouldn't be coming with them. After the brotherly moment from Brock, she didn't want to leave him behind, even though she knew she had to.

The trek to the airport was short and quick, Dawn couldn't help but stare at the back of Paul's head, even though they fought, she still wanted to see him. Just glances were enough for now even if she still felt a pang in her chest.

The plane ride was uneventful as well. It was quiet. Hardly anybody spoke. It was also a short plane ride, hardly long enough for anybody to rest any longer.

Once they landed, Dawn fell in love with the beautiful city. It seemed so peaceful and serene and the big sundial was absolutely gorgeous. The buildings were built in a cute fashion too. She wished for this city to have been built In Sinnoh instead. If it was, she would move there in a heartbeat.

Diantha, who was at the front of the group with Carrie, lead the way to the big gym. It was just as beautiful as the city with its outer space illusion. The sparkling galaxies and starts entranced just about everybody other than three. Ash, Clemont, and Serena had all already traveled to the city and were not as amazed as the others who hardly set foot in Kalos. The winding gears were an interesting addition as well.

"Greetings." A flowey voice said. "It's a pleasure to meet the fated twelve." Dawn glanced up in the direction of the voice and saw many people floating about above the room. One, a very tall woman, was floating g down next to them. She had a cloak wrapped around her that matched the background of the room and her purple hair was styled in a way Dawn had never seen before. Candice's hair was the most similar.

"I greatly appreciate you all here; this is important business, Carriers. I am Olympia." She said with a faint smile.

"What does all this mean?" Ash blurted out. "I don't understand the 'two from each region' thing."

"I knew you were going to be important from the first vision." She scanned the crowd and looked at Clemont and Serena, "You two as well." Both blondes stiffened, it looked as if Serena took a small step closer to Clemont. He did the same to her.

"Follow me, there's important matter to discuss." Olympia then began to float away.

"How do we follow her?" Gary asked, "None of us are psychics as far as I know." A blue aura outlined the group, lifting them into the air and after the gym leader.

"What the hell?" She heard someone say, but couldn't distinguish whose voice it was.

There was a black hole circling at the top of the room. Olympia suddenly disappeared as she got sucked inside. "Arceus, what's going on?" Iris muttered from beside her. Caitlin's a psychic and she does do this." She said the last part quieter.

Diantha and Carrie disappeared next, followed by Gary, Ash and Misty. Dawn was next after them, having been floated closer to the swirling black abyss. There was a second of darkness; she then felt her feet land on a solid white tile flooring. She watched in amazement as the others made their way in.

Everyone settled on a chair. Olympia frowned and looked over the group. "Lyra Noisi." She said, "Where is she?"

"Johto most likely." Ash said and leaned back. "Dawn and I haven't seen her in a long time." Olympia stared at him; Ash shifted a bit under her gaze. "Very well. She must be informed once you have arrived."

"Arrived? Arrived where?" Misty questioned. "Where are we supposedly going? I for one would rather stay here. I don't want to be caught in whatever is happening in other parts of the world."

"You're all going to Azalea Town of course."

"But Johto disappeared." Drew spoke up. "How can we get to a town that is unreachable?"

"It has not disappeared my friend. It is still there. Just a bit harder to reach." Olympia took a seat next to the Kalos Champion.

Dawn shifted, "What do you mean it's still there?" She said slowly. "We know somebody who could feel the side of the cliff."

"It's there." Olympia justified. "Just a little higher and in a different era."

Dawn stared at the strange gym leader. How could a while region just disappear? Dawn didn't understand how it had gone into a different era, and with a quick look around the room at the other ten, they were just as confused as she was, all but one. Dawn watched Ash; he had a completely normal look on his face, not dazed at all like everyone else. It even looked as if he was... smiling?

"Celebi is a legendary pokémon." Olympia stated, "Never underestimate the power of the strongest beings in the universe."

Celebi? Dawn frowned, she had heard of the small green pokémon before, she had seen a painting of it sometime in her past, to far back to recall when exactly, the picture of the legendary was bright in her mind. "But Celebi is supposedly very small." May spoke, "How can something that small be so powerful?" She questioned as her eyes traveled to various other people.

"What about Mew?" Ash challenged, turning ever so slightly to face May. There was a flash of emotion in his eyes, but it left before Dawn could figure out what it was. "Mew is strong but really small. You've seen what Mew is capable of first hand at the Tree of Life. Don't question Celebi's powers, it's just like you, you're small and you're strong." May glared at him.

"I'm the shortest one here, yes I get it." She said harshly. There was a small snicker heard from Gary, May quickly shot him a look back. He instantly stopped laughing. "I have never seen Celebi before, let alone learn much about it. I know what Mew is capable of, but it's a very different pokémon from Celebi. The most similar thing to Mew is its clone, Mewtwo."

There was a small smile on Diantha's face, "All pokémon are drastically different from each other, not a single one is alike even it is from the same species or even a clone. Now, our time is limited and not much time can be spent talking, we have already used so much. Johto is in danger and we need all of you to save it for them."

"We still don't understand what the 'two hailing from each region" means." Serena had spoken up. "So many of us had been born from different places than from where we were born."

Olympia laughed lightly, though it was a terrifying laugh, not at all graceful like Dawn had expected. "Carrie has obviously spoken it wrong."

"But she was glowing! Her eyes changed colour!" Iris explained, "How did she do that?"

"If you would like to enrol with us here at the Anistar gym, you will learn. She was meant to say that two of you will protect each region. Two of you will become that region's idols, their Carriers of Salvation. You all carry a heavy deed upon your shoulders; you will bring peace to a land all by yourselves. Even if others try and may help a bit on the way. It will end up being only two of you who will accomplish the challenge." Olympia stood up. "Now I have a story to tell you all, one that could have you confused or even angry. But this is a true story and all of you have been chosen." Olympia began to pace around the room.

"Since Humans were first brought to the world, there has always been a select number who will be partners to a legendary. No matter what all you your fates will be intertwined and you will all have met each other by the end of your lives. You twelve are some of the partners. By now you have already met some of the others who are not needed yet. I have seen every last one of you."

"Who are the others?" Ash asked. "What if we need their help in the future?"

Olympia analyzed him. "That is not for me to say, even if it is not in my place, I will say that you have left three back in Lumiose City, those three are not needed right now, therefore they will only be a burden to you." Dawn blinked; she couldn't help but think through all the people who were staying in the tower. Could Brock possibly be one of the ones left behind? "There are some of you in this room right now, whose partner is one of the greats, one of the world's strongest. I will tell of one legendary whose partner resides in this room currently. One of you is the partner to Hoenn's Rayquaza." There was a long silence. "Sometimes, there are even people who protect two. Though there has never been a partner to two of the major legendries, ones the regions are known for. There have only been instances of one partner to either two minor or one major and one minor. Though I have not been made aware if any of you hold the partnership of two." Olympia turned to Diantha, "That is all essential for them to know; they need to figure out the rest."

Diantha nodded curtly and stood up herself. "Are all of you prepared to leave? If you need anything then we can provide you with the necessary items needed."

Cilan looked forward, "How many tents do we have?" He asked, "Tents take up a lot of space to carry so we should kno what we have and how many people can fit into each tent to lighten our weight."

"I have one that could fit four people, but it would be very tight." Dawn said. "We also had another one for Drew and Paul to share..." She said quieter. "I'm not sure who had it though..."

"Paul did." Drew said. "I didn't leave home with much after the LaRousse contest; I didn't expect to be traveling." Drew looked to Paul, "It should fit three in it."

"I have both mine, and Bonnie's tents." Clemont added, "They should fit about four in each of them too."

Cilan stood up with a piece of paper in his hands, "If everybody makes a list of the items they have, then this process will be much simpler for us to figure out." Almost immediately, everybody got up to go and write down the contents of their bags. Dawn opted to sit and wait instead, rather than join the busy crowd. She looked to her left and spotted Paul, who was also sitting down. He had his pokégear in his hand along with a pokéball. He tapped away on the device, not paying any attention to her, which she was glad for, and hated at the same time.

Dawn opened her mouth in an attempt to call out to him, but quickly shut it, not wanting his attention like she had initially. "Dawn!" She quickly looked up at Iris who was standing in front of her with the paper and a pen, "Tell me what you got and I'll write it down for you!"

"Don't you find it strange at all?" Dawn found herself asking Ash who had taken the aisle seat next to her.

Ash adjusted himself in his seat so he could turn around and face her. He shook his head, "No not really. I went back in time with Celebi before."

"You have?" Dawn asked, "When?"

"When I traveled through Johto with Misty and Brock. It was..." He paused to think, "Four years ago?" He glanced at Misty who was sitting to his left, "Am I right?"

Misty turned her gaze onto the ceiling, then nodded curtly, "About four years, maybe three. I don't really remember. All I know is that it was weird. Just traveling back so far into the past and—"

She got cut off by a whine from Ash, "Mist, I want to tell the story."

Misty gave him a look and rolled her eyes. "Sure, go ahead Mr. Spotlight."

"Hey!"

Misty smiled at him, "I was kidding, don't worry."

Ash laughed, "I know, I just wanted you to say sorry."

"Like that would happen." She rebuked. Misty then leaned down and grabbed a book from Ash's backpack. "Hurry up and tell the story so I can ignore you and read the book you mom gave you which you'll never read."

"I'll read it... eventually..." Ash then turned back to Dawn, "Anyway, we were traveling and Pikachu spotted a weird pokémon and followed it, I had to chase after Pikachu because we had to catch a ferry. So I caught Pikachu and I called Professor Oak to ask about the pokémon and it ended up being Suicune."

Dawn made a face, "Suicune?"

"Yeah," Ash nodded, "You know, Suicune, Entei and Raikou. Anyway like usual we run into Team Rocket, but that's not really important. We get to some small town and run into this nice lady, her name was like Tona, Toga... Towa! That's it! She was super nice and she had her granddaughter with her who Brock tried to get with like he usually does. Towa warned us about going into the forest, but we went anyway. We walked around for a while, but after a certain point the threes started to glow this weird blue colour. We arrive at a shrine in the middle of the forest and there's a kid ling on the ground unconscious. We couldn't really do anything then so we ook him back to Towa's place." The plane was silent, Dawn looked around briefly as noticed that most of the others were looking at Ash, everyone but Misty and Gary, who had headphone over his ears.

"Once we get back to the house he wakes up and asks where Celebi is, I didn't know who Celebi was then. Then me and Sam, that's his name, got in this big fight and Brock had to break it up." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and smiled. "Towa recognises Sam as somebody who disappeared forty years ago and gave him back his sketchbook which she had kept and explained how he went missing and how long he was gone and stuff. Sam then promises to find Celebi, so we agree to go with him, me, Misty and Brock do. We have no idea where Celebi is. We find Celebi but it doesn't want to be near us and runs away. Then Team Rocket comes back, but whatever, they're just being annoying. We then arrive at this town and some man in a mask attacks us, then he catches Celebi in his Dark Ball. Celebi become controlled and we can't do anything to help it. Towa and Diana, Towa's granddaughter, take us in a borrowed blimp away from the battle. The masked guy attacks us with Celebi again and Suicune saves us from the blast so we begin to fight with our pokémon. Suicune saves Celebi and frees it so Celebi regains its memories of us. We later meet Suicune at a lake and we put Celebi in the water to help it heal, but it doesn't work. Then this huge light appears out of nowhere." Ash suddenly stood up and began to gesture as he described what he had experienced. "A portal opens and tons of Celebi come revive our Celebi. Then the masked guy comes back and attacks us but I grab onto his leg while he's flying into the air with these rockets and I get Pikachu to zap him with Thunderbolt. Pikachu made the jetpack explode—"

"Pika!" Pikachu added in "Pika pika pikachu!"

"Yes you made it explode." Ash replied to his friend who was resting on Misty's shoulder now. "Then Pikachu and I fall down to the ground but all the Celebi save us and we're fine. Then we have to leave Sam and Suicune and Celebi, and then Celebi and Sam have to go back to where they're supposed to be and we have to say goodbye, which sucks because Sam was a great friend." He paused and slowly sat back down. "Then we call and talk to Professor Oak about it and that's about it." He shrugged.

"I thought you said you went back in time?" Dawn asked. "You didn't, Sam did."

Ash shrugged, "I guess, but we went back in time together remember? With Arceus."

"Yes, but that was a different pokémon, not Celebi." She reasoned.

Ash paused yet again, "I'm tired. I've been up since four."

"You went back to sleep after the meeting." Misty spoke again. "You're not tired, you woke up later than you usually do, you had the same amount of sleep that you usually have."

"I'm tired." Ash repeated.

"Then go to sleep." Misty hadn't looked at him yet, her eyes still trailing over the book.

"I can't sleep."

"Yes you can, you're choosing not to."

"I can't sleep."

"Yes you can."

"No I can't."

"Yes you can."

"No I can't!"

Dawn couldn't help but smile slightly at the couple's back and forth arguing. She remembered heating the two fighting whenever Ash would video call her. Brock said that it was a usual thing between the two. Dawn expected it to change once they started dating, but obviously it hadn't.

Like usual the plane ride had been uneventful, Dawn had switched seats during the flight so she could look out of the window. The plane suddenly jerked up, higher and higher. They flew into a swirl of fluffy white clouds. Dawn gasped as she saw the first thing she could. A large mountainous region. There were acres of forestry. The higher the plane flew, the more she could see. It flew downwards again. The pilot, who was a trusted member of the league, came over the announcements. "We will be landing in a forested area, please buckle in as we descend. There was a strange pink wavering light throughout the sky. It looked unnatural, like a barrier.

The trees became clearer and clearer as they got closer to the ground. Leaves soared from the trees from the air being produced from the small plane. There was a jerk and a small bounce as they landed and the pilot came back on the announcements. "We have landed in Ilex Forest."


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

 **May 31st, 2006**

Dawn looked around the forest, there were still people filing off of the plane. The pilot had informed them that he had to depart back to Kalos.

Dawn adjusted her bag on her back. It was rather heavy with the tent inside but it wasn't something she couldn't handle. It was something that they needed, plus she was mostly used to the weight because of her previous travels. In Hoenn, her and May would take turns carrying it, now the others carried other important items like food, water, and various medical necessities. Some were carrying items specifically for their pokémon.

The air was cool, there was a slight breeze that rattled the trees and caused the leaves to crash into each other, making the only noise in the forest aside from the voices of people stepping off of the plane. It was relaxing, a nice feeling that she would assure herself to remember in the upcoming stressful times that they would no doubt experience.

Dawn watched as the rest of the group stood around her, a big whirring noise erupted as they watched the plane take off once again. The air picked up around them as their clothes billowed around them. Dawn's hair whipped into her face roughly, though she made no move to tame the wild locks.

Nobody moved once the plane was out of their sight. The realization of what they must accomplish weighed down on them. Deciding to get the others moving, she turned to Ash and Misty. "You two know Johto the best. Lead us to Azalea Town." Ash wasn't facing them as he looked into the forest. "Ash?"

Ash quickly turned his head around, "What?"

"Could you and Misty lead us to Azalea Town since you know Johto the best out of all of us?" She repeated.

Ash quickly nodded his head, "Yeah, of course." He glanced behind him once more. He seemed hesitant about leaving but pushed himself in the opposite direction. "It's this way." He muttered.

"How do you even know where we are?" Paul questioned, speaking for the first time since they left. "We're in the middle of a forest that's supposedly gone back in time, there's no way you could know where to go." He said harshly, narrowing his gaze at the raven haired man.

Ash gave Paul the same narrowed eyed gaze back. "I know exactly where we are."

"You aren't the only person who has traveled through Johto." Paul added on. "I came here, those two came here," He pointed to May and Drew, "Even her," He then pointed to Iris. "Ilex Forest is an easy place to get lost and I really rather not have you lead the way just to walk us in circles."

"I know where we are." Ash repeated, "If you don't want me to lead then find your own way through the forest." Ash turned and began to walk away. "I don't care if you come or not. You've annoyed me today so I don't really want to argue with you." Ash didn't look back as him as he walked on. Dawn glanced to Paul, who still didn't spare her a glance. Dawn watched him for a moment before following after Ash. Misty and Gary had already left after him, Clemont and Serena quick after. Dawn looked to Iris and Cilan who were waiting for her. The three quickly followed the rest.

May looked at Paul. "Come on." She placed a hand on his arm, "We can rely on Ash, if he can figure out where we are no matter how many years the region's gone back, we will get there."

Paul pulled his arm away from her and stalked after the others. "Leave me alone."

"Woah." Dawn couldn't help but gasp as she entered the old city. The houses were traditionally styled wooden houses with intricate carvings on the corners of the low hanging roofs. "It looks so beautiful!" She gazed around at the townspeople minding their own business as they walked around the nearby market. The clothing was very different as well. Many people were wearing Johto's traditional yukatas and some had on kimonos. Many people stopped and stared at them as they passed by, giving them unusual expressions.

"We need to change clothes." Serena announced. "We're causing too much of a scene in our attire." She turned to the group. "Luckily, I have a kimono with me. I'll need you guys to wait until I can buy clothes for all of you." Serena quickly ushered everyone out of the town and made them wait quite a ways away from the town entrance. "None of you move." She quickly disappeared behind a bush, then reappeared wearing a pale pink kimono that had a wide variety of flowers on it. "I'll be right back." She paused and took a good look at everybody's faces and height. "I'll find the perfect ones to match all of you!" She dashed away and hurried through the town entrance.

Serena reappeared sometime later, carrying many items of clothing in her arms. "I have stuff for all of you!" She announced. "I have some yukatas, and kimonos, and some hakamas." She said cheerily. "Men don't have much variety other than black and gray or black blue." She frowned. "So I have black yukatas and gray hakamas for Cilan, Paul and Gary." She said awkwardly as she moved the other clothing to pull out the ones she wanted. She looked between Cilan and Paul, "Whichever is the bigger one, give it to Cilan." She shuffled the clothing around again and May rushed forward to offer her help. Serena gladly used her as a clothing rack and pulled out three black yukatas and three blue hakamas. "These are for Clemont, Ash, and Drew." The three grabbed their clothing. Ash and Gary just ripped off their clothes in front of everyone, not caring, whereas the other four went to change in places that had some more coverage.

Serena didn't look at either Ash or Gary, clearly avoiding eye contact. She quickly handed each of the girls their own clothing.

Dawn smiled at her clothing; it was a very pale pink with darker pink and yellow flowers that blossomed from the bottom of the garment. The sash that would go around her middle had both a solid dark pink and pale yellow in it as well. "This is very beautiful, thank you Serena!" Dawn exclaimed. Dawn looked around at the other garments the girls had.

Serena smiled at Dawn, "I got you and Misty kimonos while Iris and May have yukatas." Each garment was very different, they mainly consisted of colours of which the girls usually wore, other than Iris whose yukata matched her hair. Each also had different kinds of flowers on them, aside from the two yukatas which had petals instead.

"How do you get this on?" Ash exclaimed. Dawn turned around to see that the other four had returned as well. "Why is this so difficult?"

"It's not that hard." Gary smirked at him. "How can you not get it on right?"

Dawn noticed Drew make a face, "You're wearing yours backwards Gary. I think you need just as much help as he does." Gary's eyes widened.

"What?" He looked down at himself, squinting at his clothes. "Damn eyes." He muttered. "I can't see anything anymore." He looked up at Drew, "Are you sure it's on backwards?"

"He's very positive." Cilan said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "It's very obvious that it's on backwards."

Clemont was even smirking at the sight of Gary. "There are flaps; it's easy to figure out."

"I can't see a thing." Gary said, "I don't know what I'm doing anymore." He sighed in defeat. "I need glasses."

Dawn giggled lightly, she then turned to go and get changed herself instead of watching the guy's try to teach Ash and Gary how to dress themselves.

Fully dressed, everyone entered the town. Eyes didn't trail to them from the commoners, Dawn felt herself relax a little because of this. "Where should we be going?" Clemont asked. "We're also supposed to find this Lyra Noisi right? Where would she be?"

Ash scratched his head. "Lyra lives in... New Bark Town I think." He said slowly. "But I have no idea if she's left or not because of what's happening." He shrugged, "We could head there and see."

"No." Gary said. "I don't think we should go there."

"Why not?" Misty asked and placed her hands on her hips. "It's our best bet to go to her hometown."

Gary shrugged. "I don't know. I just have this feeling that we don't need to go to her hometown."

"Just because you have a feeling doesn't mean we should act on it. We should take the most reasonable choice." Misty argued.

Gary looked over at her. "You can go. I'm staying here. There's a reason we're here, and I think we should stay." Misty stared at him, as if asking him for more. Gary didn't comply.

"I think we should stay." Iris butted in. "We were given a prophecy right? If Gary thinks we should be here, then maybe we should be." She shrugged. "His reasoning sounds logical to me."

Cilan frowned ever so slightly. "Iris I know you're into all this supernatural stuff, but do you really believe that this prophecy is a real thing? Humans are no pokémon; we can't use psychic powers like Olymipa believes she has." He shrugged, "Your ideals are not what life is really like."

Iris glared at the green-haired connoisseur. "I fully believe what Olympia said to us. She wouldn't send us here for no reason."

"Unless she's insane."

Iris gave Cilan a furious look. "You're starting to piss me off."

"There's no reason to be upset, and don't swear."

Iris threw a punch at his side. Cilan winced and gripped onto it. "Don't tell me what to do. You've already made it very clear to me that people can't control another's emotions." A pained looked crossed over her face briefly. "You're just reminding me of why I ignored you for four months until I had to house all of Ash's friends because you had no room and I was your very last choice on the issue." Cilan remained stotic as he watched her.

"Wait." Ash held up a hand, "You guys weren't talking? Why have you never brought this up to me? Even time I talked to either of you, you never mentioned it. You were fine when we were leaving to do our own stuff."

"Ash, that was two years ago." Iris spoke in monotone. "Things change and clearly not everyone is as likeable as you." There was a quiet scoff from Paul. "I'm also clearly one of the unlikeable people. I don't draw others to me like you do." Her brown eyes bore into his matching ones. "Just because Cilan and I were once friends doesn't mean that it will always stay that way. People drift away as the better option and others just begin to despise their friends for no apparent reason and avoid them at all costs." She shrugged, "It's just a way of life that you have to get used to."

Confusion graced Cilan's features, "Wait, Iris—"

She whipped back to face him, "I don't want to hear you say anything. I'm used to the silence." She threw a glare at him, then quickly turned to stalk off. Cilan clenched his jaw as he watched her leave.

"Cilan—" Ash tried but the connoisseur cut him off like Iris had. "Let's split into two groups." He announced. "Half will stay here, half will leave to New Bark Town. Whoever wants to stay and believe Gary of his hunch will stay, the rest of us will leave."

Dawn stared into the busy cowed of which Iris disappeared into. "I'll stay." She said. "I'm sorry Cilan." She apologised, but he ignored it.

"I... want to leave." Ash said.

"I'll leave too." Misty added in.

"Clemont and I will stay." Serena said. "We don't know Johto well so we'll just be more of a burden and slow you down."

"That's five." Cilan said and turned to May, Drew and Paul. "Are you three willing to leave?" They all nodded their heads. "Cilan turned to Ash." Let's go then." The tall man stalked past the group towards the other side of the town.

Ash watched him, "We'll meet back here in one or two weeks, we won't be long." He said to those who were staying.

Dawn nodded, "Don't worry about Iris either, I know you will. I'll stay with her."

"Me too." Serena nodded in agreement. "Nothing a little girl time can't handle!" She gave Ash a thumbs up.

Ash smiled at them. "Alright, see you then I guess!" He then hurried away after Cilan; the other remaining four didn't bother running, choosing to walk instead.

"Bye Dawn, Serena!" May waved, "See you later!" She gave them a cheery grin.

Dawn smiled softly and waved back. She didn't forget to take one last good look at Paul as it would be a while before she could see him again. "Bye everyone!" Her heart leaped when she saw Paul glance back for a moment, she waved again. Paul quickly looked back to the front, not giving her a wave back.

* * *

 **June 3rd, 2006**

Ash trudged through the forest. The road to New Bark was longer that he expected, but they had made a brilliant amount of ground in the past few days, though the constant moving caused a wide spread of drowsiness to affect the group. Cilan was the only one walking with ease, which surprised Ash to say the least. There was nothing Ash wanted more than for Lyra to be where they were expecting her to be, home. The group had donned their more comfortable clothing, leaving the yutakas and kimonos in their bags which dangled off of all of their shoulders. The travel has been tense so far, not much talking, and when there was, it was mostly between the two couples, Misty and Ash, and May and Drew. Paul had stayed quiet most of the time, speaking only when spoken to, a scowl still ever present on his face. Paul still seemed to be in a bad mood after his fight with Dawn, though, Ash knew Paul was the type to hold grudges for as long as he deemed necessary. Ash was just pleading to Arceus now for him and Dawn to reconcile, any friends of his hurt made him hurt. He glanced to the man leading the way, Cilan had not said anything other than telling them where to go, or when they should rest. Nobody wanted to bother the already upset connoisseur. Ash now had three upset friends; tensions were high because of this trip based off of a prophecy from a seeker. Ash trusted Olympia, but he still couldn't help but think, was this all a ruse, or was it actually up to them to save the world? Be these so called Carriers? He didn't quite understand, all he knew is that many people were right, a vast majority of people that Ash had interacted with had been unique and radiated some kind of strong, kind, helpful aura that made him relax around, even Paul had that air about him now.

Misty was beside Ash holding onto his arm from balance. Her eyelids drooped over her sea-like eyes. She was running on empty of rest, they needed to stop sooner rather than later. Ash could feel the tug of fatigue pulling him in as well. "Cilan," Ash called after he stretched his mouth open in a large yawn. "Can we rest for longer than ten minutes? I really need to sleep." He said.

Cilan stopped immediately. Ash deduced that Cilan's constant walking was his way of clearing his mind of Iris. He still wanted to question his friend on that, but he also wanted to avoid the topic in order to bother Cilan less. His emotions were still in a whirl from three days prior. Ash was both the kind of person who talked about his feelings, and was not, depending on the situation. Ash felt as if Cilan was the same, and this time, he would much rather avoid the topic at all possible, but Ash couldn't help but feel the need to help his green-haired friend in some way, it was like an aching pain seeing Cilan, the usually happy, and excitable connoisseur be like this.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw May slump down on the ground, landing in a heap. "I don't care what you say, but I'm sleeping now." She had gotten moodier the longer they had walked, every so often arguments broke out, mostly by her. Misty pulled away from Ash and sat down next to the brunette, heavily leaning against her.

"I'm sleeping too greeny." Misty muttered with a scowl. "I'm going to be from pissed to mother Ursarang pissed in a few seconds and I'm sure nobody wants see that." Ash could second Misty's words. He already seen that pissed off Misty more times than he liked. "Also," She pointed to Ash, "she stole me from you." She then pointed to May.

Ash quirked an eyebrow, "Uh, okay." He said slowly; not exactly understanding what she meant. "Cilan we have to stop." By now Drew had made his way down to the ground too, Paul getting close to the same fate as he leaned against a tree.

There was a loud sigh from the connoisseur. "Okay fine." He grated out. "I'll give you time to sleep, I apologise for making you all so tired."

Ash watched as Cilan sat under a tree with his arms crossed, closing his eyes. He watched him for a moment before letting out a small sigh, the things Ash did for his friends. "Hey Cilan, if you're up for it, why don't we look around for some berries?" Cilan opened an eye to look at him.

"I thought you wanted to sleep?" He questioned.

Ash shrugged with a grin, "I'm fine until our next break. We do need more food and stuff though." He reasoned.

Cilan smiled, a genuine one, and shook his head. "No, you don't work like that." He said with a light laugh. "Knowing you, you should sleep Ash; we have plenty of food so we'll be alright until then."

Ash was a little taken aback at Cilan's suddenly cheery attitude. "Are you sure we have enough?" He asked a little wearily.

Cilan nodded, "I'm the one that cooks, I'm certain that we have enough for two more days at least. Just don't worry about it; I know what you want too." He grinned, "We can talk later. You're easy to read to everyone here. We all know you well enough." A friendly glint passed through his green eyes, causing Ash to relax a little, and it made the aching pain for his friend subside a little.

Ash laughed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Okay, whenever you're up to it I guess."

"Don't worry, I'll let you know."

"So who exactly is this Lyra Noisi?" Clemont asked from beside Dawn. The two were walking down the busy main street, hoping to find a way to get more money. The newer currency that they had wasn't accepted at most vendors, Serena was lucky the day before, telling the Johto citizens that Kalos money is extremely rare and is worth a lot more that the Johto money used now, though in reality, future Johto shared the same currency as the rest on the main regions did, but that knowledge wasn't needed for these people. Gary was busy working himself as his inner pokémon professor came out of him. He was aiding people and answering any off their questions concerning pokémon. Dawn was unsure of what Serena was doing exactly, and Iris was hiding herself, they had been mocked a few days prior for associating themselves with someone, and as the people put it, 'who is an utter disgrace and unwanted' in the world. Hearing that had made Serena utterly furious and she had yanked Iris away, Dawn was sure that Serena was actually staying with her. The blonde's reaction was something that Dawn had never seen from her before.

Dawn thought for a moment, remembering Clemont's question. "Lyra was somebody I met a long time ago. She's super nice but a little eccentric. She kept asking me if I was going to date either Ash or Brock. She when asked if I was interested in her friend Khoury. I'm glad none of them found out about that." She admitted sheepishly, the memory danced though her head so clearly "Brock's seven years older than me, I'm not sure if I want to be in a relationship with somebody if they're that much older than me. I'm fine with two or three years though. But I guess it all just depends on whether you like them or not."

Clemont nodded, he looked a bit flustered. "I understand what you mean. I would have to agree with you. Though Bonnie tries to set me up with just about any woman she sees. It's really embarrassing." He adjusted his glasses slightly; his cheeks tinted a pink colour. "I know she means well, but I'd rather do that sort of thing myself..."

Dawn laughed, "It may be embarrassing, but it is amusing to watch." She gave him a wink, "I would love to have a sibling like you do, but I just wasn't that lucky." She sighed. "It would be super fun."

Clemont smiled at her, "Bonnie can be annoying and gets on my nerves sometimes, but I would never want a different sister." Dawn watched him. He was clearly missing the bubbly little blonde haired girl a lot.

"It's good that she stayed back. She's safe now."

Clemont nodded, and then quickly changed the topic. "I have no idea what small work I can do. I'm not as physically fit as Gary is; he's already found work to do."

"You could build something?" Dawn suggested. "Draw up blueprints and stuff." Clemont was by far the smartest person she knew, Dawn had faith that he could do anything.

"But that will take longer than the time the others will be back here, hopefully with that girl." He shrugged. "You have more opportunities than I do."

Dawn shook her head, looking around at the town wistfully. "I'll find you something!" Dawn exclaimed and placed her hands on her hips. "You're one of the smartest and most helpful people I know! There has to be something here for you to do!"

Clemont smiled slightly at her remark. "We'll see how successful you are."

Dawn grinned at him. "Don't worry! I'll find you something!"

The pair asked around to various different stalls, showcasing their abilities to prove that they would be successful workers. Though not many seek help in what either of them were offering.

Dawn had almost given up when a small boy approached her. "You're looking for work right?" He questioned, he barely reached her shoulders, which Dawn found odd because he looked to be around twelve, and she was not one of the tallest people ever, in fact, the only person who she knew that was shorter than her was May. He had messy brown hair along with what seemed to be work clothing.

Dawn looked down at the boy, "Yes we are." She stated shortly.

"You can help me and my dad! My name's Kurt! My dad likes to make pokémon capsules for people, he has a large order so I have to fetch him bushels of apricorns," he waved his basket around, causing the round objects inside to move around, "he also needs help making the pokémon capsules. I've been looking everywhere for help!"

Dawn looked to Clemont, "Even I could build the pokéballs used now, this is perfect for us!" She exclaimed cheerily, "We have to take the offer!"

"What are pokéballs?" Kurt questioned with a tilt of his head, his brown hair swaying; his brown eyes ablaze with curiosity.

"Well help you!" Dawn announced, avoiding the boy's question. "Will we get paid?" She couldn't help but ask, they needed money.

"Yes!" Kurt's eyes sparkled, "Fifty whole yen!"

"Fifty yen?" Dawn questioned, "That's all?" She felt her heart sink; she knew that Gary had collected much, much more than that so far, how could two yen help them?

"Money costs more now." Clemont said, "We can buy just about anything with that much money."

Kurt eyed Dawn, "Just because you're rich doesn't mean that you'll get more money." He pointed to her garments. "Don't forget you're also a girl." He stared at her.

Dawn clenched her hand into a fist, she forgot about women being deemed 'useless' at this point in time too. She took a deep breath. "Right. Yes, I apologize for my silliness."

Kurt nodded, "It's fine!" He smiled at her, "You seem like a niece person anyway!" The little boy grabbed her hand and dragged her along.

"Dad!" Kurt shouted as he slammed the door open to a small house in the corner of the city. "I found people to help us!" The small boy was still holding onto Dawn as he dragged her into the house, not giving her time to take off her shoes.

"Kurt, please hold on!" Dawn said quickly, "I need to take my shoes off; I really don't want to get your floors dirty!" Kurt quickly halted, almost causing Dawn to trip over him; he looked down at his own feet, "Oh right!" He dragged Dawn back and quickly kicked off his sandals, just slow enough so she could also take off her own shoes.

"Kurt." Dawn looked to the voice, there was a tall and rounded man standing there, he had a large graying beard, a man much too old to have a son as young as Kurt is. Kurt slowly looked to his father and gave him a sheepish grin.

"I thought we could use some help, you said you wanted to have people to help you. So I thought I would find people to help you?" He shrugged, "Thin lady can help me pick apricorns and her husband can help you build pokémon capsules, she said that even she could make them!" Dawn flushed red, not only at Kurt telling his father about what she said, but also about his claim of her and Clemont being married.

"Dawn and I aren't married. "His voice didn't show it, but Clemont's expression clearly conveyed his fear and embarrassment.

"Right!" Dawn said quickly, "We're siblings! See we have the same eyes!" She smiled at the man, hoping for him to believe her.

"You're not married?" Kurt asked, "Shouldn't you have spouses though?"

"W-we do!" Dawn replied, "Clemont's wife is at home taking care of their new... new baby girl!" Dawn announced.

Kurt's eyes sparkled, "Really?" He said enthusiastically, "What are their names?"

Clemont stiffened at the question, "U-uh their names a-are, uh..."

"Serena and Iris!" Dawn cut in, "Serena's his wife and Iris is their daughter!"

Clemont choked on his spit and started coughing. "Are you okay?" Kurt's father asked.

"Just fine." He managed to croak out, "Just breathed something in."

"What about you?" Kurt asked, "What's your husband's name."

"Uh, his name is... Henry! He's such a dear!" She couldn't help but notice the look Clemont quickly flashed her way, "Anyway, why not get started with working? I've been awfully bored at home so I ready to do some work!"

"I hardly think picking apricorns is deemed hard work." Kurt's father said, "But nonetheless it would be hard for a woman. Go now Kurt, take Dawn to the good trees, and drop off the ones you have already collected, I have a girl coming by later today to pick up her love capsules. She seemed pretty desperate to find her Girafarig a beau. Be back by then."

"Understood father!" Kurt grabbed Dawn's hand again.

"See you later Clemont, you too sir!"

"Just call me Kurt Senior." Kurt Sr. replied. Clemont gave Dawn a brief wave, a slightly annoyed look on his face, yet his cheeks were still tinted a bright rosy pink from his choking episode moments before.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

 **June 6th, 2006**

Clemont was hunched over a desk, working with a yellow apricorn. He was told to make it into a moon capsule, or as he would rather call it, a moon ball. So far Clemont had successfully made two other pokéballs from a red apricorn and a blue one. He heard a knock on the door and Kurt Sr. stood up with a grunt, abandoning the black apricorn he was working on.

"Clemont!" Kurt Sr. called as Clemont was tinkering away on the moon ball, "There's a man here for you, says he's your friend." Much like Kurt had, Clemont stood up with a sigh, stretching briefly. He walked out of the room and into the living room which was also a foyer to the door. Kurt's house was very much an open concept home.

He saw Gary standing there with a smile, "Hey," He said with a wave, his eyes squinted slightly, "You don't think that they'll be selling glasses here do you?"

Clemont smiled back, "Maybe. How did you know I was here?" He questioned.

"Ran into Dawn on the way over, I'm resting for the remainder of the day, already done too much work for the past three days." His smile turned into a smirk, "Too many ladies wanting to get my help." By now Clemont was accustomed to Gary's antics. Gary was not a person that Clemont had ever expected to get along so well with, he greatly enjoyed being around the brown-haired researcher.

"Were they those cheerleaders you hired when you were ten?" Clemont asked. "You had a nice car too right?"

"What?" Gary asked his voice was almost shrill with embarrassment, "How do you know about that?"

"Ash told me. He enjoys talking about your past. He also said that you thought you were famous because you're Oak's grandson when in reality you weren't all that famous."

"When that guy returns he'll wish he hadn't." Gary muttered, "Anyway, what exactly are you doing here?" He looked around the house from where he was standing.

"Making pokéballs out of apricorns, but don't call them pokéballs, back then they were called pokémon capsules." Clemont explained, "The mechanics of them aren't all that hard," he looked behind him to see Kurt back working on his red apricorn. He leaned towards Gary and whispered, "I'm actually improving them a little, more up to date like they are in our time."

"Is it really that simple?" Gary asked.

Clemont nodded vigorously, and then adjusted his glassed which fell down his nose slightly, "It's just very basic mechanics in this era, it's much more advanced in our time."

There were a series of loud knocks on the door again. "Clemont, can you open that, it's most likely the girl wanting her love balls." Kurt had shouted to the blond man.

"Yes of course." Clemont answered and walked around Gary to pull open the dark wooden door.

"Hello!" She greeted cheerily with a wave.

"Leaf?" Gary's sudden shout made Clemont jump slightly, he was staring at her wide-eyed, a look of utter disbelief on his face. "Why are you here? Why haven't you been home in so long?"

The girl stared at Gary in confusion, her mouth slightly agape, "Um, no I'm not a leaf sorry. My name is Lyra and-"

"Lyra?" This time both Gary and Clemont had shouted the name. Clemont stared at her; she was pretty short with brown hair that flipped up at the ends and brown eyes that perfectly matched her hair. "Are you Lyra _Noisi_?" Clemont prodded. She was wearing clothing that was very similar to the kimono that Serena was wearing herself, except her's was red and blue rather than red and pink.

Lyra quickly shook her head, "No, I'm Lyra Stevens. You've said it wrong; it's Niosi, not Noisi. Anyway, that's my friend Khoury's last name." Her face fell for a moment, looking pained, then it left as fast as it came.

"Wait, you just said Khoury right?" Clemont repeated, "Do you know Ash Ketchum, Dawn Berlitz, and Brock Harrison?"

"Yes, I met them a long time ago but why does that even matter? It was like four years ago."

Gary grabbed a hold of Clemont's shoulder, his grip was very tight, it would most likely bruise Clemont's shoulder, but he was to baffled to care. "Ash left looking for her and she was here the whole time! They said that they wouldn't be back for about a week and a half! Holy shit..." A hand went up to his spiked brown hair, gripping it just as roughly as he had with Clemont's shoulder. "How the hell are we going to tell them? It's only been three days!" He turned his green eyes onto Clemont, alarm flashed through them. "We could be leaving the city by now! I knew that we all should've stayed here!" He looked at the still stunned Lyra, "I know this'll sound weird but you have got to stay with us, at least until Dawn comes back then we can figure out a way to contact Ash."

"Dawn and Ash?" She looked between the two men. "They're here in Johto? Why?"

"It's a long and difficult story. I just want you to know ahead of time that everything we will tell you is the complete and utter truth."

Clemont, Gary, Iris, Serena, and Dawn had all set up a camp in the Ilex forest, close by to the city so they had easy access to any resources that they would need inside. The owner of the town's only inn had not believed their claim that they had better money. This wasn't a problem for Iris because she preferred the outdoors over inside, but she was yearning for a warm, relaxing bath, even she felt dirty at times when she was outside too much.

Iris was in a tall tree near their camp, leaning against the trunk while sitting on a thick branch to hold her weight safely. Her hands clamped down onto her yukata, turning her knuckles a lighter shade. She still felt the anger and pain that began such a long time ago. Four months before Ash's call, coming close to five now. She didn't understand how a nice and kind person like Cilan could inflict so many emotions that were far from positive. But really, what did she know? It was proven that she didn't know his life and she clearly barely knew who he was, she knew hardly anything about him even though they traveled together for so long. With and without Ash.

"Axew?" Her trusted dragon-type partner popped out of her tangles of curly hair. Iris smiled at the little pokémon who wasn't much of a baby anymore. Axew would always be her baby though, no matter how big he got. Axew was holding off on his evolution, not wanting to leave Iris' hair, or for some other reason that wasn't told to her. She could tell that her little partner wanted to evolve very badly.

"You haven't been out much." She said, "Being anti-social?" She teased, Axew flashed her a look. Iris laughed lightly, "Quiet people are good people. You're a very good partner, that I know." She rubbed the top of his head. "I swear you're really the only person, or I guess pokémon, alive who actually knows every little detail of me, right?"

Axew nodded his head vigorously. "Ax axew! Axew axew!"

Iris threw her head back in a laugh, her dark purple curls cascading down her back. "Iris!"Axew jumped slightly at the voice, glaring down at Gary who was the one who called to her. "Iris, we have a huge problem!" He shouted. Iris swung down from the tree and landed in front of the researcher.

"What's the problem?" She asked, catching Axew as he jumped down from the tree himself. "How big of a pro-"

"Lyra was in the town the whole time."

"What?" Iris demanded, staring at the man. "Are you kidding me?"

Gary shook his head solemnly, pointing to the brown haired girl behind him who was talking to Dawn rapidly, from what she could hear; it was about the prophecy from Carrie. "I wish I was kidding." He admitted, "It would be so much easier of I was."

Iris slapped her forehead, "Everybody who went looking for her are all people who are angry, moody, and like to complain a lot. Imagine their reaction when they return! We have to send a message to them somehow..." An idea popped into her head. "Dawn!" Dawn almost immediately stopped talking to Lyra upon hearing her name. "Do you have Togekiss with you?"

Dawn nodded, "I do."

"Good thinking Iris!" Gary praised. "Togekiss is part flying and is indigenous to Johto so nobody will find it strange to see it. It's also a pokémon that everybody in that group will recognise too." He turned to Dawn, "Will Togekiss be able to make the delivery fast enough?"

Dawn nodded, "Of course! We've actually been working on our speed recently; Togekiss can make that delivery in no time!"

Iris felt very pleased with this outcome. "Okay, lets hurry up and send this as soon as possible." Axew stared up at Iris, a dark smirk played across his scaled lips.

* * *

 **After an extremely tiring weekend which involved a long drive and two day dance competition, this is what I have written! Shorter than I wanted it to be, I'm also shprter than I wanted to be too...**

 **I'm praying for a snow day, an extra day of sleeping sounds so nice...**

 **I hope you liked this chapter and that you have a lovely week!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **June 8th, 2006**

"Toge!"

Paul looked up at the sound of the call, seeing the pokémon fly down to him; he wasn't as alarmed as it slowed down the closer it got. "A Togekiss?" The fairy-flying type landed in front of him daintily. It looked very familiar to him. Suddenly the thought struck him. It was Dawn's pokémon. There was a sharp twinge of worry that embedded itself into his chest. He almost immediately dropped the sticks he had in his arms that were no doubt meant for fire. Togekiss wouldn't have been sent unless there was a problem right?

Togekiss extended its wing out to him; he noticed a band around with a letter tied tightly on the band. He pulled the letter off and opened it up; he was met with a slightly messy rounded print that he knew belonged to Dawn;

 _Come back fast. Don't go to New Bark._

The twinge of worry came back as he read the short message. The shortness made him worry more. Why was he even worrying? The group left behind had solid pokémon teams and they were all able to protect themselves, so why did he feel bothered so much? He held the paper tightly in his hands. "Stay with me." He ordered the pokémon, "Don't go back unless I tell you to." Togekiss tipped her head to the side in slight confusion but didn't show any signs of protest. Paul shoved the letter in his pocket, and then picked up all the sticks he had dropped. "Follow me." He ordered Togekiss and led the way back to the place where the group had decided to make base camp for the night.

Paul walked into the clearing and over to Cilan who had begun to chop up various vegetables. He shoved the wood under a pot which was halfway filled with water. The loud noise startled Cilan a bit, causing a small jump to come from him and for him to look in Paul's direction.

"We need to turn back." He announced to the green-haired man. Cilan had calmed down over the past hours and was mostly back to his normal self. Above them the sky was a bright, blazing orange, the clouds took on a pinky-purple colour. The sun was nowhere to be seen.

Cilan raised an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?" His eyes darted to Togekiss behind him.

Paul handed Cilan the note. Cilan quickly, but properly, wiped his hands then took it. "It's from Dawn." Cilan scanned the both over and looked at Togekiss; a flash of recognition swam through his eyes.

"We can't leave now." He said calmly. "We have to wait until morning."

Paul shoved a hand into his pocket and clenched it into a fist. "We have time once the other four come back. We can still see."

Cilan eyed him, searching his face. "I thought you and Dawn had a fight, why are you so worried?" His expression changed as he spoke, one holding more anger.

"I'm not worried about Dawn. You're not worried about Iris are you?" He challenged.

Cilan shook his head, "I'm not worried about her in the slightest. I'm more worried about my cooking." He gestured to the area around him. "I would have to pack this all up if we went back now. That's hardly enough sunlight to be able to do that." He turned back to the small table he had set up and returned to slicing meat.

Paul turned to look at Togekiss, who was still watching him. Paul took out a pokéball and released Torterra. Togekiss' eyes lit up as she daintily walked over to the big grass-type.

Paul was sitting at the small table that was set up for them to eat on. He was busy looking at the map of Johto on his pokégear when he saw somebody sit across from him. Looking up, his gray eyes were met with May's bright blue ones. She was resting her head on her opened hand, smirking at him.

Paul frowned at her. "What?"

May closed her eyes in a long blink as she shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing." She left one eye closed as she opened the other one.

"Just tell me what you want."

"Don't you think Drew's adorable?" She asked him as she glanced over at her boyfriend who was helping Cilan.

"I don't really care." Paul stated. "Drew's appearance doesn't affect me like it does to you. **"**

"You know, Drew and Dawn are actually kind of similar." Paul furrowed his eyebrows. Dawn and Drew were very different; the only thing in common was their trainer occupation. "They kinda look the same, don't you think? Similar facial builds. They could totally pull off being siblings. They're both extremely cute. They also have some pretty good looking people after them right?" She winked at him.

"What are you trying to get out of me?" Paul asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nothing." She said smugly.

"I'm smarter than you. What do you want?"

"I heard that you want to go back to Azalea Town. You were rushing Cilan, trying to get him to agree."

"I don't want to go back and I wasn't rushing him. I was only showing him the letter that was attached to Togekiss."

May rolled her eyes and sat back on the chair, crossing her arms. "Come on Paul, when will you get over this fight with her? I know you have both said things that you both regret. Dawn had other things bothering her then and I know what she said wasn't right, but she wasn't in a good state. I managed to get stuff out of Ash, who was told by Iris who was the person Dawn went directly to after you left. She doesn't know what to do know other than to give you some space, but how long will you avoid her? The longer you wait the more hurt you both will be. Don't be like Iris and Cilan who haven't talked to each other in months until they had to because of this whole situation." She guestured to the area around her.

"I'm not hurt." Paul retorted.

"You are. You haven't been talking unless somebody talks to you first. In Hoenn you really opened up, but now you've changed back."

"I'm not a book character, I haven't changed at all." He hissed. "Nobody actually knows who I am for a good reason. I'm not going to apologise."

May sighed and stood up. "Just think about it." Paul didn't watch her as she left.

It was well past midnight now; the sky was black with little flecks of light dotting across it. The moon wasn't quite at its peak yet, though it would be in about another hour or so.

Pansage was curled up fast asleep in Cilan's lap; he was overlooking the big lake in front of him over a small cliff. He could see the docks with a few fishermen on them, looking for late night swimming pokémon. If it was earlier in the day, just when the sun was rising, he too would probably be out on the docks.

"Hey Cilan," Ash greeted with a yawn. He was clad in his pajamas. He did a little stretch and sat down next to him. "Why'd ya wanna talk so late?" His hair was slightly dishevelled, more so than usual.

"So the others wouldn't hear. You wanted to know about Iris and my fight. This isn't something that I want everybody to know. I don't know if I'd even tell my brothers about this, or at least not Chili."

Ash seemed more alert now. "You trust me more than Chili?"

"No, I trust you the same. Your mouth isn't as big as his when it comes to secrets. You do have a bigger mouth though, not everybody can finish a burger in three bites." Ash laughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"How did you and Misty start dating?" Cilan asked. Ash was a little taken aback. He guessed that Cilan wasn't exactly ready to talk just yet.

"Uh well, I called her on my pokégear because we hadn't spoken in a super long time because I had no signal because me, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie all had to ride on these Mammoswine up a mountain. So when we got to the next city I called her 'cause I felt a little guilty. So when I called, one of Misty's sisters picked up instead of her since she was in the middle of a gym battle. Lily was the one who picked up and once she saw it was me she called Daisy and Violet over and we talked for a bit about stuff. Then they started talking about how much she missed me and always talked about me. They said that they were convinced that she had a crush on me or something, and then Daisy said that Misty told her that she did because she was dating Tracey at that point and she wanted Daisy's help with me or something, I wasn't really paying attention for a good reason. Then Misty walked in at that point and she was super angry at them, she didn't even know I was there watching them through their videophone. Then they got her to admit it to all of them and then they told her that I was right there. She was super embarrassed but it was kinda cute." Ash recalled her face which had a bright red blush painted across it; it actually complemented her hair very nicely. "She hung up on me and I called her again another day and told her that I liked her too, I always did." He shrugged. "I just never thought about it that way. When I heard her admit it I started to think about it a lot and then I guess I just liked the idea and that's it. It was a great idea and I don't regret it at all, I don't think I ever will."

Cilan nodded slowly, "I know understand your fishing bait." Ash blushed himself. "Anyway," Cilan started, "Do you want me to get straight to the point or do you want the full story?"

"Uh... straight to the point, then you can tell me the whole story if you have to." Ash replied. "Seems easier on you that way."

Cilan shrugged, "You're a friend that I trust so either way doesn't bother me. But the to the point version... Iris told me she loved me."

Ash's eyebrows shot up, "Did she actually?" He couldn't help the small grin that formed on his face, he was glad his friend wasn't looking. Cilan nodded once. "And let me guess. You don't feel the same?" He even more surprised by Cilan's answer.

"No, I actually care about her a lot. More than I should."

"Wait..." Ash frowned. "Why is this such a big deal then? How could that cause a four month fight?"

Cilan looked at him, he didn't seem upset, but Ash knew that he was actually very pained. "I turned her down then I did everything I could to avoid her. She eventually cornered me and made me talk her."

"Why would you turn her down?" He asked quickly, he didn't understand, they both liked each other right?

"There's too big of an age difference. She shouldn't be in a relationship with somebody who is so much older."

Ash crossed his arms. "You're not that much older." He commented. "Why should age even matter? You both really like each other."

"Almost four years?" Cilan questioned, "That's a very big age difference. **"**

"No it's just over three years." Ash retaliated. "Brock's fiancée is three years older than him but she didn't care about that. Iris doesn't care either. She's not the kind of person to think about stuff like that." Ash shrugged. "Iris does what she wants and she wants to be with you."

"She probably doesn't even feel the same anymore. I practically crushed her heart. I wasn't the nicest when she cornered me. I know she hates me for saying what I did." Cilan admitted with a small sigh at the end.

"What did you say?" Ash asked. Cilan was never a mean person; he wasn't even mean while he was angry for the past few days, just moody and frustrated.

Cilan started to pet the sleeping Passage on his lap, Ash didn't even notice the pokémon until now. "I told her that I had absolutely no feelings for a person like her and that I would never want to be in a relationship with someone who has her personality, I told her to leave me alone and not to talk to me."

"I'm not too great with girls and what they think, I'm just guessing from the stuff Misty made me watch while we were in Kalos, because her sisters kept saying that they were good movies, but I think you scared her. Like in one movie, it was kinda like this and the girl thought she scared him by telling him that she liked him, so she tried talking and he turned her down and she was really upset after. She might still be upset with how you turned her down the second time." He scratched the back of his head. "Did she change?"

"I don't know. All I saw of her was when she was on television. She had to be normal for her interviews on being a new gym leader and when they found out that she was the top person who could beat Alder. When her last pokémon lost against his last one, she was all over the news. We met again she seemed the same, happier that Drayden was mentoring her in order to beat Alder."

"I think you should confess to her too." Ash suddenly said. "I'm not a relationship helper guy but just go with your gut and do it, who cares?"

Cilan thought it over. "I'll think about it."

Bonnie swung her legs back and forth as she sat on a chair. She was eagerly watching Tracey who was drawing Daisy and Delia as they made lunch for the people remaining at the tower.

"Why are you so good at drawing?" She asked him.

He looked at her with a smile, "I've drawn for years, even before I was a trainer. It just takes practice."

Bonnie looked down at the half drawn picture, "Can you trachea me how to draw? Clemont's pretty good at drawing too, but it's just his engineering stuff." She shrugged. A new person walked into the kitchen, catching her attention. "Hiya Timmy!" She greeted one of Brock's youngest siblings. Timmy smiled at her and walked over, sitting across from Tracey and Bonnie.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked. Dedenne jumped onto his shoulders and started to race around on him, he laughed. "You want me to bring out Minun right?"

"Ne ne!" Dedenne cheered as her eyes lit up at the thought. Timmy pulled out a pokéball from his pocket and released the electric-type. Dedenne jumped off his shoulders and met the pokémon by sending electric waves through their cheek-pouches.

Bonnie grinned as she watched the two pokémon play together. She turned back to Timmy. "I'm trying to get Tracey to teach me how to draw, do you wanna learn to?" She asked eagerily.

"Sure!" Timmy agreed. "Tracey's an amazing drawer!" He jumped off his chair and pushed it to the other side of Tracey so he could get a better look at what he was doing.

Tracey felt a pair of eyes on him; he looked up and met the Daisy's gaze. She was smiling at him. It was one of the most breathtaking smiles he had ever seen, and that was saying something because all her smiles could compare to the dazzling sun. Her smile changed into a slyer one as she winked at him and turned back to the sandwiches she was preparing. Tracey couldn't help the blush that crawled it way up his neck.

"U-uh to start, you should just start with basic shapes like this..."

* * *

 **Please vote and comment guys! It's a little upsetting to see that I don't have very many votes or comments compared to the amount of people who read this. It's a really nice feeling to see you guys vote or comment, even if I don't always reply. If you really like what I write please vote and comment, it means the world to me!**

 **Hey guys! I managed to spit this out as my whole weekend was taken up by the new Fire Emblem games that came out Friday and all I can say is;**

 **Oh my god.**

 **I love it! Do any of you guys play that game as well? If so what game did you buy? I ended up getting Birthright while my brother is saving up for Conquest.**

 **Wattpad decided to randomly bold 75% of the stuff I write so sorry if I missed any, I can only unbold each paragraph by itself because Wattpad's annoying like that.**

 **I hope you have a marvelous week guys!**


	19. Chapter 18

**Ahead of time, those of you who are wondering, Iris does in fact have a Gible. It was given to her by Claire when she traveled around Johto. It was her own separate episode. It is a cannon thing, look on her bulbapedia. I don't think the episode got translated into English. If she does appear in XY and Z then you'll most likely see it then. Cilan also had his own episode where he met Brock so they too had known each other prior to this story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 18**

 **June 16th, 2006**

The sun was high in the sky, beating down a comfortable warmth into the forest. There were a few clouds that dotted the sky like freckles, but aside from that the sky was as clear as a glass of water. Iris sighed as she ran a brush through Excadrill's dirt covered fur. She understood that he was a ground type, and was prone to getting dirty, but he needed to make sure he was cleaner. She would leave some dirt in as it was healthy to have some on him, just not that amount he had plastered onto his brown hair. It was caked on so much that it was as if he rolled right through a giant mud puddle. There was a large hole in the ground to her left. Emogla was flying around her, begging for attention and for her turn to be brushed. She would make noises every once and a while and land next to Excadrill, glaring at both pokémon and trainer. It would be a lie if she said that Emogla wasn't annoying her, she just ignored it for now. Axew was sitting beside her chattering happily with Dragonite, and Gible. They were bonding dragons. The three pokémon perked up a little, and stared deep into the forest. Dragonite's eyes narrowed as he scanned his surroundings. Iris followed their gaze and saw nothing; she went back to brushing Excadrill who grunted as she brushed at one particularly bad spot. Suddenly she heard a loud rustling noise that gradually came closer and closer. Iris looked up again and saw a pokémon shoot out of the trees in a blur of orange; it was then followed by a white pokémon. Both flew into the sky above and began to circle around. Iris squinted as she tried to catch a glimpse of what pokémon they were.

"Woah!" Lyra exclaimed. The brunette had stayed with her while the others went to work. She had said that she wanted to bond with Iris more and they had been, more or less. "Those are some pretty fast pokémon!" Lyra was behind her, sitting on the ground with her back facing Iris, hair tied neatly in a pair of pigtails. After the two blurs came a Beautifly, trying hard to catch up to the other two pokémon.

There were more rustles and a body toppled out of a bush, successfully landing face first on the ground. His hat flew off of his head and landed beside him. "Damn it!" He slammed a fist on the ground. "I'm last!" He looked up and noticed Iris with a grin. "Hey Iris! We're back!" Ash pulled himself into a sitting position and placed his hat back on his head. "Talonflame's crazy fast right? I knew he was going to win the race but I didn't want to come in last." He shrugged. "The others are far behind. Anyway you seem to be fine, what was the rush on coming back so quickly? Paul practically made us run when we got close enough. But they're all slower than me!" He exclaimed proudly **.**

Iris rolled her eyes at his antics. She then jabbed her thumb behind her. "There was no point in going to New Bark when Gary's hunch of staying here was right." Her mouth curved upwards into a grin. Lyra stepped up behind her and gave Ash a smile.

"Hiya! Long-time no see, right?" She laughed lightly. "I already got the whole situation figured out so there's no need to explain it all over again."

"Lyra?" Ash asked then laughed himself, throwing his head back. "We thought you guys were in trouble because of the message you sent us with Togekiss, or at least that's how Paul read it and told us."

"Paul was the one who got the letter?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, we were all collecting firewood except for Cilan. Paul went off on his own and I guess he was the one who Togekiss saw first. He showed Cilan the letter but not anybody else."

Talking was heard as Drew pushed himself through the underbrush, holding a stick out of the way for the others to pass through. Misty stumbled out fists, muttering a finally when she gazed at Ash sitting on the ground. The rest followed Misty, sitting down except for Paul and Cilan who remained standing. Cilan wasn't looking at her, but at Lyra beside her.

"Who are you?" Paul asked bluntly with a narrowed gaze.

Lyra smiled with a wave. "I'm the person you guys were going to look for in New Bark Town, Lyra Stevens." She introduced herself.

"I thought we were looking for Lyra _Niosi_?" Misty said, giving her a confused look.

"Niosi is my best friend's last name, not mine."

"Where are the others?" Paul demanded, he didn't seem happy at all.

Iris glanced over at him, remembering Ash's words. "They're all out doing jobs for us to get some of the current money Johto uses."

"Why aren't you doing that too?" Ash asked with a tilt of his head.

Iris sighed. "I would but I can't."

"Why not?" He pressed on.

"Because," she started, "people like me are unwanted in this society. If I start working I can't just stop like the rest of you can. I'm unwanted and uncared for." She looked over at Cilan who was now looking at her as well, his expression was soft and seemed like it was glazed with pain. Iris was startled slightly but pushed it aside, she didn't want to be near him at all. "It's mostly changed in the future; it's not as diverse and accepting as I hope for it to be someday. There are still people who don't agree with me being me."

"Iris-"

"Gary and Serena should be coming back soon. Clemont and Dawn work later. For now we should come up with a plan on when we will leave and how based on what Lyra knows about what's going on in Johto right now." Iris stated, "She briefly told me things today and the others weren't notified because it slipped her mind, she had other things to worry about, like being a legendry's protector." She didn't want to listen to Cilan right now **.**

"How many pokéballs did you and Kurt get around to making today? When I went out gathering, the trees had twice the amount of apricorns than yesterday. I find it really cool how fast they grow back." Dawn said to her companion.

Clemont adjusted his gasses on his nose. "Quite a few actually, together we made around twenty-five or so."

"Wow!" Dawn exclaimed. "You work fast! Was it for a delivery?"

"Just a few were orders." He shrugged. "One order of two moon balls and one order of four lure balls."

The two trainers had already left the town, walking through the forest to their little resting spot which they had claimed such a long time ago, or so it seemed. A faint breeze caught her hair, tickling her cheeks. It was a beautiful day outside. Loud cries caught Dawn's attention; she looked up to the sky and grinned giddily as three flying-type pokémon landed around them. She kneeled down, dropping her bag as she pulled Togekiss into a hug. "You're back!" She rubbed Togekiss' head. "I made some poffins for you when you came back! I left them at camp! And don't worry; I hid them so Chespin didn't eat them!" She looked up to Clemont and winked at him. Clemont sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, moving his glasses in the process **.**

"Chespin is just as bad as Ash, maybe worse now." Clemont opened his eyes. "Talonflame?" He asked. "And Beautifly? Are they all back?" A sinking feeling pitted itself in the bottom of Clemont's stomach. "Do you think they're angry because of our cryptic message? I knew we should have said more.

Dawn's own stomach clenched, they were back. Paul was back. She quickly shook her head. "If they are, I'll take the blame. I was the one who wrote it."

"Are you sure?" Clemont asked warily. "You were told to write it like that by Iris."

Dawn nodded quickly. "Yes of course. I could have written it better so I'll take the blame. I won't be upset."

"Are you sure?"

Dawn pushed herself up from her knees. "Of course I am." She glanced at the other pokémon. "Would you guys like some poffins too?"

"Beautifly!" Beautifly cooed and took flight again.

Talonflame tilted his head to the right, a look of confusion flashing across his face. "Oh right!" Dawn understood. "You haven't tried one yet! Well just you wait to taste them!" Dawn smiled at Clemont and grabbed a hold of his wrist. "Come on, let's hurry!"

"Do we really have to run?" Clemont asked between huffs, already losing his breath.

Dawn let out a loud laugh, "Of course we do!" She said just as loudly. "I need to know Talonflame's opinion on my baking!" They pushed through the undergrowth and emerged into the area where they had placed their tents. "We're back!" She shouted with a smile.

"Hey Clemont, Dawn!" Ash greeted happily. "I haven't seen you two in forever!"

"Finally." May said in an annoyed tone but her wide grin gave away her true emotions.

Serena waved from a table that they had set up, her baby blue eyes were twinkling as she gazed in their direction. "We're making plans for when we leave; do you guys want to join us?"

"Of course! Dawn agreed quickly, "I just have to hand out my poffins first!"

"Wait till you hear what Lyra told us, we actually have a lead somewhere!" Ash said with a thumbs up, "So hurry up and feed the pokémon, we gotta leave as fast as we can!"

"Got it!" Dawn agreed, giving Ash a thumbs up back. She let go of Clemont's wrist and dashed to her tent. She felt eyes following her. She stopped at her tent entrance and turned around, almost immediately locking eyes with Paul, bright blue meeting steel gray. She felt heat pound in her cheeks and she shyly smiled and gave him a small wave. Her heart leaped when he gave her a small, curt wave back.

"Wait, so can you explain that one more time?" Misty asked as she walked alongside Lyra. Ash walked behind of her, talking quickly to Serena and Clemont, she could just feel the grin that was on his face herself. He always had a bright, cheery and overall kind air to him, one that pulled people to him. One that pulled her to him all those years ago even with their less than unfortunate first meeting.

"Sure can." Lyra nodded. "I started working as an intern at the Goldenrod Radio tower with Khoury and two other really amazing people and I actually knew one for a while, Ethan and Kris, or it's what they go by now because of their past as trainers. Since there's a news station inside the tower, we all knew what was happening; there had been sightings of Celebi throughout the Ilex forest, the pokémon who can time-travel. Slowly these sightings began to lessen and lessen and these weird things began happening all throughout the regions, famous monuments disappearing, like the Bell Tower, which is the tower that is used to summon Ho-Oh, then even the Whirl Islands began to disappear, which everybody through was very strange, how could these huge landmarks disappear without a trace? What was going on? Johto was on high alert. Then people kept disappearing one by one. Whole cities were gone, Cherrygrove city was the first one gone. Then these voids came, just like black holes and they sucked everybody inside, everybody and everything. All I can think is that the region was collapsing into itself. I was the last intern left at Goldenrod. Ethan and Kris disappeared... Khoury disappeared... I remembered the spotting of Celebi, a time traveling pokémon. It has to have some kind of connections to all of this. This is not something that humans can do on their own. Team Rocket was getting worse and worse, harming Slowpoke for money again, they were defeated before, by Ethan and Kris. They aren't the type of people to be famous; it's not their thing, which is also weird that they wanted to become radio hosts someday. But who can put a face to their voices. That made me think some more. The radio waves got disrupted for a whole week, only playing the same cryptic message and fear-inducing voice that oddly sounded like a child, the language was confirmed to be ancient, but nobody could understand more than the words 'disappear', 'cherish', 'beware'." She stared intently as she led the way through the Ilex forest on their search to the shrine. Something bigger than expected is happening and knowing what I am, I know that I'm close to the answers; I have to be for Kris, Ethan, and Khoury. They need me to bring them back."

"I believe what you say is true." Misty said after a moment of processing. "Your ideas all line up, I don't doubt that you are right."

Gary was walking on Lyra's other side. A firm glare was imprinted on his features. His face was slightly pained as he squinted. He pulled a hand up to rub his forehead as he let out a pained, ragged breath. His walking slowed. "Gary are you okay?" Serena asked gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He brushed her hand off and nodded. "Yeah... I'm fine." He managed out. "Just a migraine or something, I'll be good in a few seconds."

"Are you sure?" Serena's face was contorted in worry. "Migraines usually last a long time, we can stop."

"I'm fine." He repeated, his vision growing blurrier and blurrier the more he stepped forward. Different shapes began forming, a person was in front of him and he quickly stepped away to avoid them as he walked on. The pounding growing harsher and harsher with every passing second. He knew he had to rest, he felt as if a Rhydon was drilling a hole through his skull. More and more things appeared around him, noise did too.

"...ary?" There was a faint call; he could barely make it out.

"I'm fine." He said again.

"Ga...?"

More and more new noises came into focus, splitting his brain in half with a piercing pain. He's never felt like this before. A new voice pierced his eardrums. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" A woman shouted, causing his heart to race. A rush of exhilaration passed through his body because of the voice, it made his pain lessen. It helped him, it healed him. "That is a mother and her child! You are a sick, evil monster!"

"What does it matter?" A loud voice barked, bringing back pain. "Important little items needed." His voice was snide and knowing. He could hear the smirk on his face because of his words.

"They are not items!" The pain lessened again. "They are living breathing creatures!"

"Enough!" The voice roared, and a loud bloodcurdling scream echoed, his heart raced in anticipation, his vision cleared and he could see. Electricity raced through his system, jolting him to the very core of his body. He looked around; the room was large and encased in metal. It seemed as if he was blocked by glass. Things were clamped onto his body, restraining him; it was the reason why he felt the electricity. He was panting in pain, why was it so hard to breathe? He felt like he was on the brink of death. He saw a smug man laughing, it became louder and more malicious the more he laughed it echoed off of the metallic walls, reverberating into his eardrums and permanently buried itself into his brain. His black hat was perched precisely on his perfect pale green-blue hair. Under him was a girl lying in a heap of brown hair. Her black shirt was skin tight and her pants were ripped everywhere. He could make out the face and a raging heat shrouded him. Anger swirled in him and he let out his own anguish filled scream before everything disappeared in a flash and he landed face down on rich green grass, his vision blurry again before going black in a snap.

* * *

 **I really had fun writing this chapter, what do you guys think of it?**

 **EVEN THOUGH YOU ALL PROBABLY HEARD BUT THERE'S A NEW POKEMON GAME! What do you guys plan on getting? Sun or Moon? I want to get Sun and I'm super excited for this winter! Happy 20th anniversary Pokemon!**

 **Have a lovely week! I know I will with the posibility of having** _ **two days**_ **off from school, I already had today off!**


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 **June 17th, 2006**

Gary felt something cool on his forehead. A drop of water just as cold dripped down the side of his face and tickled the fine hairs by his ear and it traveled down under his jaw. He fought the urge to wipe it away. He felt a hand gently brush back his brown hair. Fingers gliding over his scalp before being lifted off and brought back to run through his brunet locks again. He groaned as he fully woke up and tried sitting up. "Don't move." A familiar voice said.

"Finally coming to eh?" There was a snicker. Gary knew that voice anywhere. Anybody could recognise that obnoxious, mocking and ear-splitting, grating voice.

"Shut up Ash." He hissed and cracked open an eye, he saw Iris sitting above him; a small bowl in her hands, Ash was seen in the corner of his vision. Everything was clear and he felt a light weight on the bridge of his nose. He reached up to touch it. Gary felt reasonably normal, just exhausted as if he had ran for miles.

Iris slapped his hand away. "Cilan uses reading glasses. He was lame enough to bring them with him. Can you see okay?" Her voice changed at the end of her sentence, sounding more concerned than it did when she practically spat out Cilan's name.

"Fine actually." He moved to sit up again but Iris held him down by his shoulders, only noticing now that his head was in her lap on a pillow. "Why aren't you letting me get up?" He then smirked as a snide thought crossed his mind, "Like me in your lap?" He teased with a grin. "How about you in my lap?" His body shook roughly as he laughed at his own joke.

Iris had a genuinely disgusted look on her face. Gary heard another snicker from Ash. "You wish. Now shut up before you black out again. You blacked out the first time from the migraine, this time I'll punch you." She gave him a small, short glare. "I suspected it happened because of your eyes, because you kept complaining about them. We're lucky that his reading glasses are your prescription. This also means that your eyes aren't as bad a Clemont's. Woobat's have better eyesight than him."

"It wasn't a migraine." Gary muttered and finally sat up, taking advantage of a confused looking Iris. "I saw something; it was as if I was looking through somebody else's eyes, not my own." Gary then met Ash's eyes, remembering. "I saw her."

Ash frowned, confusion danced across his features as well. "Saw who?" He questioned. They had agreed not to say her name after they met in Sinnoh. It was too hard to think about.

"The one who went missing." Iris looked between the two, not understanding what they were talking about. She didn't need to know. Nobody needed to know other than Ash and himself.

Ash's eyebrows shot up. "Wait... You mean 2004?" Gary nodded once. "What did you see?" Ash demanded. He rushed forward and shoved his face into Gary's; every little detail on Ash's face could be seen. So many emotions were readable in his brown eyes; the most prominent one was hope. Gary pushed him back, not too intent on seeing his friend this close up.

"Team Rocket. I know who I was, or rather who I was looking through I guess." He said slowly. "It's not really a good thing."

"Who?" Ash sat next to his childhood friend. Gary and Ash knew each other the longest out of their group of twelve. Gary never expected all of this to ever happen to him, let alone the loser Ash. Gary was happy that they had a more solid friendship than they did when they first set off traveling though Kanto so many years ago. The two knew one another since they were infants, not even old enough to walk. It was Ash and Gary, and one other child. Close knit friends that always stuck together until things went bad for Gary and he changed. He regretted being mean and rude to Ash, but he couldn't help but feel jealous because he had a mother and Gary did not. One day he had a full family, a mother, father, and even an older sister. Then the next he didn't, all he had left was his grandfather.

Gary took a deep breath, adjusting the glasses that slid down his face. "The pokémon I'm supposed to protect."

He heard gasps around him, now just noticing the others standing in a circle around them, most were wearing different, normal clothes. "You mean you're protecting one from Johto?" Misty questioned, "How do you know it was them?"

"I could feel it. I saw a tail. I was chained up and was being electrocuted. I could actually feel the pokémon's pain. I... it was Lugia. Lugia's part flying type so it was drained from being shocked." He put his eyes back onto Ash. "Then I saw her. She said that the Rocket member was a monster for hurting a mother and its child. The Rocket member then pushed her on the ground. I remember her scream and she hit her head off of the ground. Things were still not in focus at that point. I just remember seeing her hair everywhere, it's gotten longer now Ash, not a short bob. I thought I recognised her voice but I didn't know it was her until I saw her actual body."

"They took Lugia and its baby?" Misty hissed. "How could they do something like that?"

"Wait, Lugia has a baby?" Drew asked. He quickly shook his head in disbelief. "That's impossible, legendries don't breed; they're one of a kind are they not?"

"No." Paul answered quickly. "There's always more than one legendary." He grabbed his bag and opened it up, pulling out a book. The title flashed in the thin stream of sunlight near him. _Legendary Legacies_. "This book is focused on legendary pokémon. I was reading about them. You can look at it if you want, its full of research from different people."

"That makes sense." Ash agreed. "I've seen so many of the same legendries but they were all different. I just thought that something changed since the last time I saw them and they just didn't recognise me."

Gary stared at the book in Paul's hands. "Damnit." He cursed. "I have that in my grandfather's library. I should've read it. We're lucky that you brought it with you."

Paul shrugged. "I bought it in Hoenn so I could ignore people." Three sets of eyes whipped themselves onto Paul. Two blue and one green.

"Paul!" May hissed. "You said that you were studying something for school!"

"I'm not in school anymore." Paul rolled his eyes. "You should know that."

"You're not... what the hell? You're old enough to still be in school!" May stared at him in disbelief. There was a frown on Dawn's face and her mouth hung open slightly. Drew had an eyebrow raised, otherwise showing no surprise.

"Extra classes, summer school." Paul listed off. "I don't have to take a certain amount at a time."

"How should we know that?" May asked.

"Anyway," Ash started again. "So you're sure it was Lugia?"

Gary nodded once. "I don't know of any other pokémon who has a tail like Lugia's."

"Was there anything that could be recognisable? I might be able to figure out where it happened!" Lyra crouched down in front of him. "What did it look like? What was in the room? What did the Rocket member look like?"

Gary scratched his head, remembering everything he could about the room. "Well it didn't look too sinister. The lighting wasn't that bad, it was pretty dark though, it mostly came from the windows. There was tiled flooring and the walls were orange, but I think they were painting because I saw a few cans. There wasn't really much, the room was mostly empty."

"Did you see anything through the windows?" Lyra pressed.

Gary shook his head. "No I was busy being in pain and watching a girl and a full grown man fight. Right, the Rocket guy had blue hair and a hat, I couldn't see anything else. It was pretty much empty; it looked like people cleared out an office building."

"An office building?"

"Yes."

"We're going to Goldenrod City." Lyra announced. "It's the biggest city in Johto and most of the office buildings are located there."

"Even at this point in time?" Iris asked warily. "We're in ancient Johto, thing are different."

Lyra nodded. "Even in this pint in time. Johto always had huge towers. The Sprout Tower, the Bell Tower and the Brass Tower. The Brass Tower shouldn't be burned down at this point so it still has the original name."

"The Embedded Tower." Gary added.

Lyra whipped her head to face him. "How do you know about that? It is strictly known by Professor Elm and his colleagues."

Gary rubbed his cheek, "...I don't know..."

* * *

 **June 19th, 2006**

The group had avoided going to Celebi's shrine and made a direct route to Goldenrod. If needed, it wasn't too far of a walk back. The large city was still very much the same since she last visited two years ago or now many years into the future.

"We should split into groups and walk around." May suggested. "To spread more coverage y'know?" She shrugged.

"That's a good idea." Lyra quickly agreed. "I could go with people who aren't familiar with the area."

May nodded. "Yes! I'll make the groups!" She looked at everyone with a sly smile on her face. Iris could only guess where this ordeal was going. "Okay! Ash, Misty and Gary are one group! Then Serena, Clemont and Lyra are another!" Her gaze flicked onto Paul and smirked. "Then me and Drew, then Paul and Dawn," She laughed lightly. "And then Iris and Cilan."

Iris groaned. "Are you sure it's a good idea to put me with him?" She jabbed her thumb in the connoisseur's direction.

"I think it's a very good idea!" Ash butted in. He quickly grabbed a hold of Misty's hand and even Gary's and tugged them along, "Meet back here okay?" He lifted the arm that was holding onto Gary's and attempted a wave. "See you all later!"

Iris raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Ash..!" Cilan called but it was useless.

"I don't really—" Dawn started.

"Paul." May said as she looked at him like a scolding mother would look at her child. "Remember what I said."

"I don't care." Paul responded and begun to walk away.

"Dawn, go with your partner." May ordered. Dawn opened her mouth to refuse but May shot her a look. Dawn gave out an annoyed huff paired with a small scowl and followed in Paul's direction.

"Why would you pair them up?" Iris demanded. "Do you not remember what happened last time they were together?" Iris felt very protective of her small blue-haired friend. There was nothing Iris wanted more than was for Dawn to feel comfortable with her partner, and that didn't include Paul.

"I do. I want them to build their relationship back, that's why I put them together. I talked to Paul about it; I just hope he takes my advice." May replied, she did look slightly guilty. "I want them to go back to normal."

"Is that also what you're trying to do with us too?"

"No." May shook her head. "That's what Ash wants. He wants all his friends to be happy again." She grabbed Drew's hand, lacing her fingers with his. "We'll see you soon." She too, turned and left with Drew.

"Iris—"

"Cilan please don't." Iris said slowly. "I can barely look at you so please don't bother me anymore."

She heard a sigh from him. "I understand—"

"But you don't understand! You don't understand me at all!" Iris retorted hysterically.

"Then I think you're very wrong." He said slowly. "I travelled with you through a region. I know and understand you better than you think." She crossed her arms, but made no movement to interrupt him. "Actually, I don't understand you enough. Ash made this pretty clear to me." He let out a small anxious laugh. "I want you to ask me again."

Iris turned a tentative look onto him. She could see that he was nervous, which was a strange sight. It actually made her feel a little better. It made her feel as if she was more composed even though she wasn't; Cilan was the one that definitely had more control over his emotions in the current situation. "Ask you what?"

"The same question that started all of this." He gestured to the air around him. "I will give you a full answer with proper reasoning."

Iris suddenly felt nervous herself. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't afraid of him rejecting her again. She didn't know if she could live with the pain again. She clenched her fists and pulled her arms back to her sides. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with him. "Do you think we should be in a relationship?" Her hands were clammy and she wiped them along her yellow tights.

"Yes." He answered and she took in a deep breath, a euphoric feeling rushed throughout her body. "The first time I thought that I was thinking for you, but a friend made me realise that I was only being selfish and thinking of myself. It's more important to follow your heart when you know that the person in front of is the person you know you should spend the rest of your life with. I do think that we should be in a relationship. If you could do me a large favour, please forget what I have spoken in the past. It was all a lie. I do not think of you like that at all. Iris, you're a person who can make people smile and laugh. You wild personality draws people to you, including myself."

A smile broke out on Iris' face and she launched herself at him, Wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. "Why did you say no the first time?" She asked quietly.

"I thought it was too inappropriate for you to be in a relationship with somebody older like myself." He admitted.

Iris laughed. "That's ridiculous, who cares? You're hardly older than me."

He laughed back, the sound making her smile grow even bigger. "You're right. Who cares?"

She pulled her head back an in a flash, she pressed her lips onto his. Shocks travelled throughout her body and she didn't doubt that Cilan was experiencing the same thing. It was a short kiss, but it was perfect.

"I love you Iris."

* * *

 **Huehuehue! Were any of you expecting this? I think not! Also I've added dates because I'll be using other dates within the story so I've put them on there to make it easier to understand. Wattpad will be getting these changer, but will have to wait longer as it is a different process. And by putting the dates, each pokemon character is actually a year older than what I previously said because I suck at math! So here are the ages of the main characters listed below, the italics and bolded names mean nothing, just little notes to myself that I'm to lazy to change.**

 **Ash Ketchum** \- 18 May 22nd, 1987

 **Misty Waterflower** \- 18 March 16th, 1987

 **Gary Oak** \- 18 March 3rd, 1987

 _Brock Harrison_ \- 23 April 6th, 1982

 _Tracey Sketchit_ \- 22 June 28th, 1983

 **May Maple** \- 17 February 25th, 1988

 _ **Drew Hayden**_ \- 17 May 17, 1988

 _Max Maple_ \- 13 July 3rd, 1992

 **Dawn Berlitz** \- 16 October 14th, 1989

 **Paul Robelldo** \- 18 February 10, 1987

 **Lyra Stevens** \- 17 June 18, 1988

 **Iris Arifiani** \- 17 October 31st, 1988

 **Cilan Griffith** \- 20 February 1st, 1985

 **Clemont Liscico** \- 18 August 28th, 1987

 _Bonnie Liscio_ \- 10 May 12th, 1995

 **Serena Paschall** \- 18 August 8th, 1987

 **Do you share a birthday with anybody? If so, tell me who! I wish I did, but I thought it would be too weeniesh to do that hahaha!... so I may have made one of their birthdays a day before mine :)**

 **Have a lovely week guys!**


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

 **June 19th, 2006**

"Where do you think we should start?" Serena asked, flicking her blue gaze to Lyra who was looking around them. They were walking down the main street of the massive city. A slight breeze picked up around them, making Serena's short hair tickle her cheek. She brushed it away. "What would be the most reasonable place for them to hide?"

"I don't know..." Lyra sighed honestly. She rubbed her forehead in thought as she looked around herself. Her own brown eyes looking over everything analytically, taking in everything she saw and stored it into her head in case it was needed to remember later. "Goldenrod has always been crazy huge; just look at all the tall buildings around us." She stretched her arms wide and spun around in a wide circle. She was right, everywhere you looked, all you could see was the towers obscuring your view. The only inch of blue sky that anybody could see was the small opening right above their heads, showering them in a view of bright blue and fluffy white clouds. "It's a very good place to hide. They could be disguised as anything and everything, there's no real way of knowing." She stopped spinning with a frown. "Khoury was always better at this kind of stuff. If only he was here." She reached up and adjusted her white hat with a tug. "Where are you Khoury? Give me some kind of sign..." She said quietly.

"Well!" Clemont exclaimed loudly, hands on his hips. His glasses caught the sunlight just right and his eyes were being obscured by the bright, blinding white glare. A deep smirk was etched on his face and he adjusted his glasses with a fairly evil sounding chuckle, like one of a mad scientist.

"Clemont, no!" Serena tried with a groan, "We'll attract too much attention!"

Serena's calls were useless, Clemont completely ignored her pleas. "I was preparing for this exact moment! The future is now thanks to science! Clemontic Gear, on!" He exclaimed loudly as he whipped out his backpack and pulled out a small wooden box. "I call this the 'Easily Find Team Rocket Tracker Device'!"

"I can't imagine what Bonnie would say if she heard that name." Serena sighed with a pained look on her face. "I need to remember to tell her this."

"With this handy little device, we can track Team Rocket members with ease! I disguised it while we were in the forest in case we needed to use it here!" Clemont said proudly, smiling like crazy.

Clemont flipped over the box and pushed in a little square. It popped open revealing a key hole. Serena frowned; she had never seen something like this from him. It was both a relief and a fear. He inserted a key and once he turned the key, the whole top of the box came unhinged. Inside was a button with a small electronic map beside it. Clemont pressed the button once and it began to beep. "Follow me!" Clemont commanded. He turned and begun to walk down a separate side street. "Two targets have been spotted! They're just a few streets over!" He notified them.

Serena felt her heart rate increase faster and faster, almost in tune with the rapid beeping coming from Clemont's device. Lyra was eagerly walking beside him while Serena stayed close to their backs, a hand gripping onto the shoulder of Clemont's jumpsuit.

"Not too much further." She heard him mumble, "They're just around the corner, we should be careful and keep our eyes peeled." Serena's heart raced. Though she didn't feel scared like she did before, now she can feel her adrenaline increasing with excitement and anticipation. She wanted to be able to find these Rocket members; they needed to know what they were up to.

"Where are they standing exactly?" Serena asked. "We should get a good look at their faces if we ever need to remember what they look like."

Clemont nodded, "That's a good idea. They're on the opposite side of the street; they're just standing still, no moving at all."

"Let's go." Lyra said as she began room walk around the corner. Serena glanced at Clemont who gave her a nod and they too, turned the corner. Serena's eyed darted from one side if the street to the other, trying so seem reasonably normal. She looked through the crowd of busy shoppers and workers alike, even with the huge disaster happening, the citizens seemed to have no knowledge, or they in fact didn't exist in the future. Where were the other people if they weren't here?

Her heart just about stopped when she spotted them. The Rocket grunts.

"Clemont," She grabbed into his arm to get his attention, never once taking her eyes off of them. "Clemont, look." She could see Clemont look at her from the corner of her eye, he then followed her gaze. Eyebrows quickly shooting up behind his sweeping hair.

"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered. "No wonder it was so quiet."

* * *

 **June 19th, 2006**

Misty whipped around with a harsh glare. Gary was standing there with a smirk while Ash had a petrified look on his face. "Who just pinched my butt?" She demanded furiously. "That was a stupid question," She then said with a shake of her head. "Gary, you better protect your own ass tonight before I get Gyarados to hyper beam it." There were some quiet giggles coming from Pikachu who was happily perched on Ash's shoulder.

"Pikapika, pikachupi pikapi!" He exclaimed while laughing. Misty barely understood what the pokémon was saying other. Ash smiled slightly as he looked up at his partner.

"C'mon Pikachu, don't say that." Ash said, he then spoke more quietly, "Even if it is true."

Gary waved his hand flippantly. "Nah. You love me Misty, you wouldn't do that."

"Try me." She hissed, turning to Ash, "Why didn't you stop him?" If anybody was going to do that to her, only Ash had the right, he was her boyfriend after all. Pikachu's giggles still rang through the air.

"I didn't know that he was going to do that!" Ash retorted, looking over at Gary with his own glare. "Get your own girlfriend Gary!"

"No need to be so jealous." Gary said with an evil grin. "I get she's your first girlfriend and all, but really, you guys need to get a little more action on! All I've seen you do is hold hands, seriously, come on." Both Ash and Misty broke out into huge blushes. Pikachu tumbled off of Ash's shoulder and landed on his feet with a thud. He eventually rolled onto his back, clutching his yellow belly. This was the best day in Pikachu's opinion.

"W-we haven't been dating that long!" Misty stuttered, suddenly feeling very embarrassed of herself.

Gary crossed his arms with a scoff, "Are you kidding me? I know how long you've been dating, Delia doesn't live far from me and grandpa, I knew as soon as she knew. It was November 30th. Which means it's been almost seven months, have you even kissed yet?"

"Yes!" Ash spluttered his face completely red. Pikachu's laughing had become silent, under his fur his face was probably the same colour as his trainer's but for a different reason.

"Then kiss right now, prove it to me." Gary ordered.

"Why?" Ash demanded.

Gary rolled his eyes. "To prove to me that you're not as innocent as Bonnie, I bet she's kissed somebody before you guys."

Ash suddenly became very protective about that statement. "Bonnie. There's no way I'd let her—"

Misty pulled Ash by the collar of his shirt and planted a brief kiss on his lips, turning back to Gary with an angry look. "What about you mister? I doubt that you've ever had a girlfriend. Never heard or seen of one myself."

"Misty—" Ash tried to interject with wide eyes, but was quickly cut off again, but by Gary this time.

"I did have a girlfriend before." He said roughly, staring down at his shoes with an unrecognisable expression.

"Did? Let me guess, she left because of your annoying attitude?" Misty said snidely. "Nothing I wouldn't expect."

Ash grabbed Misty's arm. "Misty don't—"

"Close but no." Gary replied, looking back at her with emotionless eyes. "She was kidnapped." He said bluntly. Pikachu had finally stopped laughing, his ears were down as he sat hunched over on the ground.

Misty froze, eyes quickly widening. "Gary, I didn't— I'm sorry..."

"It's fine." He said and adjusted the glasses perched on his face. "I know where she is now and I plan on getting her back. Besides, I don't even know if we're technically still dating or not. We were never able to get to that discussion."

"How do you know where she is?" Misty couldn't help but ask. The idea baffled her, if something like that happened to Ash, she didn't know how she would react. Gary seemed so calm about it and never once brought it up, at least not to her. Ash seemed to know though. She didn't expect him to know, but thinking of Gary and Ash's bond, she should have expected it.

"Missing in 2004." Gary replied. "That should jog your memory a bit." He turned to walk again.

"Missing in 2004...?" She trailed off, looking quickly to Ash. He gave her a grim look.

"Don't say anything to the others." He said. "Me and you are the only two who know aside from Professor Oak, and Pikachu of course..."

* * *

 **June 19th, 2006**

May leaned back in a long stretch, hearing the satisfaction of her back popping; she let out a relieved sigh.

"Don't hurt yourself." Drew advised. "Cracking your joints isn't a good thing to do." They were waiting at the meeting spot; they found nothing as they did their share of the search. It was relaxing to just be together though, just the two of them.

"It's not actually that bad." May said. "I read an article online saying that you should actually crack your joints." She lifted up her hands and cracked her knuckles. "It's a nice feeling; gets rid of all the stiffness."

"I'd rather not take care of an old lady with severe arthritis." Drew said.

"I won't get arthritis, that doesn't actually happen." She sighed in exasperation. "Don't worry; you won't need to help me hobble around because I won't. I'll be the cool fit ninety-year old that can still go out for jogs every day."

Drew smiled at her. "We'll see how true that is someday."

"I hope we get to." She agreed. May stepped closer to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so bored. I don't want to just wait here forever."

Drew pulled back, running his fingers through his green hair and pushing it out of his eyes. "Take out your pokémon and do something with them. I'm sure Blaziken is aching to get out of his pokéball."

May nodded once. "You're right." She agreed. "I wonder what it's really like inside of pokéballs. Do you think they're just crumpled up into little balls or is there an actual place for them to move around in?"

Drew scratched his head in thought. "I don't know. That is an interesting thought though. Maybe we should ask Clemont, he was helping Kurt make pokéballs out of apricorns so he must know."

"True." She said as she pulled out Blaziken's pokéball. "He'd have to know what's inside if he knows how to make them." She tossed the pokéball into the air and in a flash of red light, Blaziken appeared. May reached up and stroked his head; Blaziken still had to lean down. May was the shortest in the group, aside from her brother and Bonnie of course, but they were getting there quickly. May dreaded the day when Max would finally be taller than her. She knew that he would gloat about it right in front of her face; May was tempted to buy six inch heels just so she could still tower over him, but who knew how long even that would last? Her and Max may fight a lot but she didn't want to see him grow up.

If he still could grow up.

On a second thought, May did want to see Max grow up if it meant that he was alive. May quickly swiped at her eyes to banish any unwanted tears.

"May?" Drew said softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a second. I just was thinking about Max..." She wouldn't lie to Drew and say anything that she wasn't. She took a deep breath and turned to him with a smile. "Max is okay." She said firmly. "I know he's okay."

"May! Drew!" May looked in the direction of which her name was being called. Serena, Lyra and Clemont were all barrelling quickly towards them. This was the fastest she had ever seen Clemont run. They stopped in front of the two. "You won't believe what we saw." Serena panted. "We found some Rocket grunts!" As if on cue, almost every other group showed up at the exact same moment. It was as if it was a movie, or even a book.

"Wait what did you say?" Gary demanded, fixing his glasses, or Cilan's glasses, for the millionth time. "You located some Rockets?"

"We did, thanks to Clemont's device, which this time didn't blow up Ash."

"Really?" Ash's eyes sparkled, Pikachu looked surprised himself, back on his trainer's shoulder. "It didn't blow up? Let me see it!" Clemont grinned proudly as he held out the box, letting Ash inspect it. "Woah! What's it called?"

"It's the 'Easily Find Team Rocket Tracker Device'!"

"Awesome name!"

Serena sighed and rubbed her face. "Anyway, we found three Rocket grunts, three that we all know pretty well."

"Wait..." Dawn said from beside Paul and a very happy looking Iris. May's eyes were drawn to Iris and Cilan's hands, a wicked smile broke out on her face, May made a mental note to bring that to the other's attention later. "You don't mean..." Dawn bent over with a groan when Serena unhappily nodded.

"Yes, Jessie, James and Meowth."

"Why are those three idiots here?" Misty demanded. "Do you think they could actually have some part in this whole thing?"

"Well..." Cilan spoke up. "They are members of Team Rocket. If their boss needs them here then there's not really any doubt to saying that they're part of this. It's an obvious idea no matter how inadequate they seem to be."

"I wouldn't be surprised if they were here just to cause us even more trouble, it's not like we're already dealing with enough of it." Dawn said with a frown. "Or to even try and get Pikachu again."

Ash pulled Pikachu off of his shoulders and held him in his arms. "There's no way they'll actually get Pikachu."

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed. "Pikapi, pikachupi, pikapika, pikachu pika pikachu!"

"Blaziken, blaze." Blaziken nodded.

May looked around the group, suddenly an idea sparked in her brain. "We should send Paul, Drew and Lyra to spy on them. They wouldn't recognise them right?"

"They'll recognise me." Paul said with crossed arms. "I've met them on more than one occasion before."

May turned to her boyfriend and Lyra. "What about you guys?"

"I think I can do it." Drew agreed. "I don't remember meeting them."

"The same goes for me." Lyra nodded.

"Then let's do it." Ash said. "It's our best bet, so why not try?"

* * *

 **June 19th, 2006**

"Hey Jess, we're doing pretty good with sales don't you think?" James looked at his partner with a smile. Jessie was handing somebody a bundle of cookies and waved to them with a smile.

"To be honest, I didn't expect it to go over this well." Jessie said as another person approached them with money in their hands. She took the money from them and handed them a bundle, waving goodbye to them too as they walked away. "Luckily we haven't had to deal with anything just yet, this should make the boss happy."

"Very happy, it ain't such a bad punishment neither." Meowth said as he wandered around with a sign telling people about the cookies they were selling, he pulled his hat down further on his head, feeling it slip off a little bit. "We just gotta make sure we listen super carefully from now on or else we'll be doin' this again."

Neither Jessie nor James replied to him, they just shared a glance between the two of them. "Meow—" James started.

"Excuse me?" A girl with brown hair tied back into pigtail called as she walked closer to him, a very familiar green-haired man walking behind her. Jessie narrowed her gaze as she discreetly looked him over. "May I ask what ingredients are in your cookies? I'm allergic to nuts so I just was wondering if they would be safe for me to buy?"

"No nuts came in contact with these scrumptious delicate treats!" Meowth exclaimed with a grin. "Only one hundred poké!"

"Wow! That's a great pricing! What kind of business is this? Is it for something else or just for you guys?" She asked.

"Just for our own personal gain ma'am, some of the funding's will be donated to the local orphanage!" James lied.

She nodded. "Sounds like a good deal to me! Don't you agree?" She turned to her friend who nodded and brushed his hair to the side. Jessie frowned.

"We should get two to bring to our coworkers." He suggested.

"Great idea!" She clasped her hands together. "Two packages please!"

Jessie smiled at the girl and handed her two packages, taking the two hundred poké. "Thank you Miss!" Jessie said with a strained smile. "Have a lovely day!"

"You too!" She quickly replied with a wave and left on her way back, going in the same direction that she had come from.

Jessie watched them leave before elbowing James in the ribs and kicking Meowth. "It's the twerp's friends!" She whispered to them, both her and James were crouched down to Meowth's level.

"What?" James asked frantically, looking up in the direction the two had left. "How do you know?"

"Remember that brown-haired twerpette from Hoenn with the Blaziken? That green haired guy is her friend or rival or whatever. I remember from doing contests!"

"Aw man, you sure Jess?" Meowth asked, pulling down his glasses to look at his teammate better. "You sure it's really them?"

"Positive, I never forget a face, no matter how ugly."

* * *

 **A day early hurray!**

 **I have made an awful mistake... I FORGOT TO WRITE ABOUT PIKACHU!**

 **I am very angry with myself... I hope I put him in this chapter enough.**

 **I headcannon May to have a habit of cracking her joints... like me... oops? I can literally crack every possible joint in my body.**

 **Since I added birthdays last week, why not put heights? Tell me if any off you are the same height as any of the characters! I'm the same height as Dawn hahahah**

 **I refrence myself too much for these guys!**

 **I also base Max off of my own little brother... He's almost taller than me too! I'd rather not see that day unlike May, the longer he is shorter than me, the better.**

 **All heights are in order from tallest to shortest!**

Cilan- 6'1

Paul- 5'11

Gary- 5'9

Ash- 5'9

Brock- 5'8

Tracey 5'8

Drew- 5'7

Misty- 5'6

Clemont- 5'6

Serena- 5'6

Iris- 5'3

Dawn- 5'2

May- 5'1

Max- 4'12

Bonnie- 4'8

 **Have an amazing week guys!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

 **June 20th, 2006**

"Are you doing okay Lyra?"

Lyra jumped slightly at the sound of the voice. She wasn't expecting anyone to come over to where she was sitting, much less talk to her. She looked up and her own light brown gaze was met with a matching pair, a pair that belonged to none other than Ash. She nodded once. "Yeah I'm alright." She answered and turned her gaze away from Ash, but she could still feel his eyes stuck on her, she felt as if he was trying to read her actions. There was rustling to her right and she watched him sit down next to her on the ground. They sat in a short bout of quiet silence.

She could both feel and hear Ash shifting uncomfortably next to her, it seemed as if he wanted to say something but for some reason wouldn't. She looked at him sceptically. "How long do you think this will take?" She asked breaking the silence, hopefully probing him to say what he wanted to.

"Hopefully not as long as I think it will." He gave her a sideways glance, a small frown was on his face, barely noticeable, but she could see it. "There are twelve of us, two for each region, if we need to go to all of them, that'll be tough. Let's keep hoping that Kalos and Unova stay calm and neutral for a good amount of time while we're all dealing with the other regions, it would really help. It's not easy with what we have on our shoulders right now." He laid down with his arms resting on his stomach, rising with each breath. Pikachu scurried over to them and jumped on Ash's stomach, making him go "Oof!" And curl into himself slightly. Lyra watched with a smile as he stroked Pikachu who was happily sitting on his trainer. Interest sparked on his face and he looked over at her. "Hey, how's Chikorita?" He asked.

Lyra smiled and fished in the pocket of her overalls for a particular pokéball. "She's wonderful!" In a flash of red light, a Meganium appeared. "Gotten plenty stronger right Meganium?"

"Mega!" She cried and laid down next to Lyra, tucking her legs under her green body. Pikachu twitched his ears as he stared at the now evolved Chikorita. Pikachu beamed and scurried over, talking excitedly to the grass-type.

"Marill is now an Azumarill too. You haven't seen the other's I've caught either." Lyra said. "Marill was really hesitant on evolving, and then finally decided to do it. I didn't say anything to change her mind, we were battling one day and she just let it happen."

"You have more?" Ash asked, Lyra nodded. "I have all six spots filled now. Meganium, Azumarill, Girafarig, Ponyta, Farfetch'd and a Granbull!" She said with a smile. "They're all the best pokémon I could ever ask for!"

"They sound awesome!" Ash exclaimed. "Hey, you said you worked in the radio tower right?"

"I'm an intern, yes."

"Did it exist in this time?" Ash sat up again, looking very interested.

Lyra thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, it did."

Ash suddenly jumped up, startling Meganium. "Why don't we go and see if we can look inside of it?" He suggested. "I know you're feeling kinda homesick so why not go and visit something familiar? Even if it's a bit different, wouldn't it be cool to see the old technology they used to use before?"

"It would." She agreed. "Why not?" She shrugged and stood up, brushing herself off. "It sounds fun!" She looked over at Meganium. "Sorry but I have to put you back in your pokéball. I'm going somewhere but you can come back out as soon as I come back!" She promised, rubbing Meganium's head. The grass-type nodded in understanding.

Ash grinned as he watched Lyra return Meganium, "Let's go!" He said cheerfully and grabbed her arm. "Guys, I'm gonna look around town with Lyra, we'll be back for supper!"

"Be careful." Cilan advised from where he was sitting next to Iris who was busying herself making something, a book in his hands, Paul's book. "Team Rocket can and will know who you are. Think before you do things."

"We're tough! We'll be fine!" Ash said with a reassuring grin. "We got this, no need to worry!" He looked over to Dawn who laughed at him.

"Right!" She agreed, "No need to worry!"

* * *

 **June 20th, 2006**

"So you live in Goldenrod right? I mean if you're working here it just makes sense." Ash asked as they walked down the main road of the large city. It was still very much the same as it was the day before. Busy people running around, trying to both sell and buy various products on their way to work. It was still expected to happen in Goldenrod, no matter what era it was in.

Lyra nodded, looking down at Azumarill who she was carrying in her arms. "I do, or did; I don't really know how to say it. Not in this time I guess, but in the future." She smiled at Ash. "I lived with Khoury; his dad bought us the apartment. He makes a lot of money for being a researcher and pays the rent for us. I'd rather him not because Khoury and I can pay for it fine ourselves." She wrung her hands together whilst still holding onto her pokémon. Azumarill gave her a look.

"I'd feel the same way." Ash agreed, "Even though I do still technically live with my mom." He shrugged with a laugh. "Hey..." Ash started, "Are you and Khoury... y'know, a thing?"

Lyra stared at her friend incredulously and then then burst into laughter. Ash's face turned bright red with embarrassment; she didn't even know he could have such a reaction. She had never seen him blush for herself. "No, no. We're not. We were in a relationship for about a month after we came back Sinnoh, but we just found things too strange and awkward between us. My feelings are mostly platonic towards him, they always had I'm sure. It was a mutual decision and were both happy just being best friends. I wouldn't doubt that we might look as if we're in a relationship because we're so close." She smiled sadly. "Right now, the biggest thing I want for Khoury and I, is for me to find him wherever he may be. I haven't told anyone this, but Khoury's been gone since Johto went back in time. I'm not sure if it's because of who we are, but don't you find it weird that I was the only one, as far as we know, who stayed?"

Ash mulled the thought over. "It is very strange. My best bet is because of who we are. I can't think if anything else that can relate to it at all. I just feel constantly confused all the time."

"Really?" Lyra asked, "It doesn't seem like you are. You're just always smiling and are a genuinely happy person."

Ash nodded quickly. "I just make myself do other things that I can make sense of instead." He shrugged. "I don't like being confused and thinking too much gives me headaches."

"That's a good thing to do. It'll help keep your mind clear and unbiased if it's ever needed in a certain situation." Lyra said.

"Let's hope that it won't ever be needed." He agreed solemnly.

Lyra looked up at him. "Would you ever lie to any of us?"

Ash tilted his head to the side, Pikachu copying his trainer's actions. Confusion swam through his eyes, he asked. "What do you mean exactly?"

Lyra looked around her, a very unpleasant and uneasy feeling settling in her gut. She deduced it as nothing and turned back to him. "Since I came later, to me it doesn't seem like everybody is telling the truth on their own accord." Her stomach churned viciously, she closed an eye to will it to stop.

"I wouldn't lie unless I knew it would harm one of my friends in that moment. I'd probably hold off of the truth for as long as I could." He admitted. "I hate seeing everyone upset so I do the best I can to keep them all smiling. If they're smiling, then I'm smiling." He looked towards Lyra and noticed that she was hunched over some ways behind him, not having heard what he said at all. "Lyra!" He called and raced back to her. "Lyra!" Worry painted his features, "Lyra, are you okay?"

Azumarill was standing beside her, a very concerned look on her face. Lyra moved to the side of the street where there were plenty of bushes around, she willed a silent thank you to go through her mind. She leaned forward over the bushes and all of the food she had consumed in that day came rushing out of her in a very disgusting way. Her vision was blurred with tears, or just blurred, she couldn't really tell. She felt fine before so why was she reacting like this? She knew she wasn't sick so what was happening? What was her body trying to tell her? Ash hurried forward, rubbing soothing circles on her back. She could see faint shadows through her vision, a gray metallic room, she felt constrained as if something was pinning her against a wall. Her stomach pounded like a headache, she didn't understand! Lyra began growing frantic, her vision of the city deteriorating and being replaced with something else. Her stomach jabbed with pain as if it was slowly being cut with a knife. It churned wickedily again. She could hear a cry from beside her. What was that? It was no human.

"You'll be okay; we can go back after this so you can rest." Ash said calmly. She could barely make out his words.

"I don't think that will be necessary Mr. Ketchum." A voice said. Ash whipped his head around and stared at the man behind them. His blue-green hair spiked neatly under a black hat while he wore a full black outfit consisting of a shirt, jacket and pants. The jacket was used to cover the large red ' _R_ ' placed right in the center of his dark shirt. "I have a feeling that you two can both rest easy with us."

"Who the hell are you?" Ash demanded, taking a protective stance in front of the still retching Lyra, Pikachu jumping off of his shoulders, sparks flying from his red cheeks, he let out a low growl of warning.

"Somebody you will soon know well enough, don't worry." He laughed. It echoed around them. A haze of black surrounded them, Ash's head spun as he teetered back and forth, trying to stay upright on his two feet. Lyra had slumped down on the ground moaning, one hand firmly placed on her stomach while the other clutching her lower forehead, her eyes were obscured. The world quickly sped into darkness.

* * *

 **June 20th, 2006**

Everybody was on edge. A hysteric Misty was pacing back and forth while Iris tried to talk to her soothingly. She kept lashing out to the dragon-trainer who would barely flinch at her shouts. Drew, Cilan, Paul, Clemont and May were all stationed around their camp, a pokémon beside them as they stared out into the darkness of the forest. Dawn and Serena were tending to a mostly passed out Gary who was writhing on the ground, thrashing and talking, speaking words that nobody would understand.

The sky was black while little sparkles of stars twinkled in the night. Ash and Lyra hadn't returned in over six hours. They had left an hour after lunch and seeing the moon in the sky, it was getting close to midnight.

Dawn was running her fingers through Gary's brown locks, his head resting in her lap on a pillow so he wouldn't give himself a concussion as he hit it off of the ground. His, or Cilan's, glasses were perched on her on head to keep them safe. Serena was beside her with her Delphox, trying to hold him still as the attempted to wrap him in a blanket to keep him from hurting himself and the two girls. Serena and Dawn both flinched when they heard another furious shout from Misty, who face was very close to Iris'.

"Who are you?" Dawn heard Paul demand. She quickly looked up and watched a person emerge through the underbrush of the forest. It was a boy with dusty brown hair and blue eyes; a Charizard was beside him, towering over the boy who was actually quite tall, close to their age. He had on khaki shorts and a light brown button up shirt. Aagron, who was standing beside Paul, towered over Charizard even more, letting out a threatening growl. The boy winced slightly with a smile and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry," He said. "I thought I heard a familiar voice."

Dawn saw Misty stiffen out of the corner of her eye and she whipped her head to face the boy. "Sammy?" Misty asked incredulously. "You're... you're older!"

Sammy laughed with a nod. "I did get older, as have you. That usually happens to people."

"Why are you here?" Paul asked harshly. "Don't say it's just because you know Misty. We have more important things to deal with right now."

Sammy's eyes widened, "Like what? What's happened? Was it Team Rocket?"

"How do you know about them?"

Sammy stared at Paul. "Because they took Celebi." He said sadly. "Celebi and I have a special connection. I usually know of Celebi's whereabouts whether Celebi wants me to know or not."

"He's another protector." Dawn whispered and Paul turned his gaze onto her, his eyes narrowed. Sammy noticed Gary withering on the ground.

"Is he alright? Maybe I could help?"

"He's fine." Cilan said a little too quickly.

Sammy frowned. "I don't believe you."

Misty sighed and walked towards him. "I think we should tell Sammy."

"Tell me what?"

Dawn jumped as Gary let out a scream and quickly sat up. He grabbed the sides of his head and let out harsh, ragged breaths. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for his next move. He whipped the blanket Serena was trying to wrap him in off of his body and used it to wipe off of his face roughly. Dawn handed him the glasses from the top of her head, he gladly took them and slipped them back onto his face. He let out a groan and Serena handed him a bottle of water, already opened. He took it out of her grasp and began to readily gulp down the whole bottle. He took a few more breaths to steady himself. He cleared his throat then said. "Radio tower."

"What?" Iris asked as she approached him. "What do you mean?"

"The Radio tower." He locked his eyes onto hers. "That's where they're being held."

"Who's being held?" Sammy asked.

Gary gripped the blanket tightly so his knuckles turned white and stood up quickly. "Lugia, Celebi, Ho-Oh. All of them." He said. "I know why I had the feeling to stay in Azeala Town. Johto will be saved by Lyra and I." He looked to Sammy. "And him."

"Me? What is all of this?" Sammy demanded. "What's going on?"

"Team Rocket has captured the three legendary pokémon. You, Lyra and I are all the protectors of them. Lugia with myself, Lyra with Ho-Oh and you with Celebi." Dawn felt Paul's gaze on her, she looked over to him again and he quickly averted his eyes, staring at Gary instead.

"The others are there too." Gary said with a huff. "Ash, Lyra and... and Leaf."

"Leaf?" Somebody asked but they were quickly disregarded.

"We're going there now. The other three protectors are on their way, I saw them. Suicune, Entei and Raikou."

"How did you see them?" Misty asked. "If Lugia's locked up how do you know?"

Gary stared at her, fixing his glasses. "We can all connect, that's how I know. My headache started when Lyra and Ash got taken, she had called to me somehow, probably through Ho-Oh and Lugia. You won't understand until you find yours." He grabbed his bag which was near a tent and dug through it. "We're going now; get all the stuff you need. Don't complain."

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

Dawn followed the group in her line, two rows side by side. Paul was standing next to her, any other time she would feel awkward, but she was glad he was there. She felt safe when he was with her and that's what she needed right now. The knowledge of her being safe and that they could do this. They were a strong group and they would and will save their friends. They will save the legendries. They will save Johto.

She stared at the ground, thinking over what pokémon she should use against Team Rocket and what would be the most effective moves against their pokémon, silently remembering each type's strengths and weaknesses. She brought a hand up to her mouth and began to nervously rub her lips. They were just a small group of people, eleven to be exact, and they were fighting off against a massive organization.

Something warm slipped into her hand and she jerked her head over. Paul was staring at her intently. He wasn't scowling. Dawn stared back at him; she could feel heat creep up onto her cheeks. He was holding her hand. "You'll be okay." He said. "Just think through your moves when you face an opponent, nothing bad will happen to us."

"How do you know?" She asked. "We're such a small group compared to them."

"We're stronger." He reasoned. "We have better ideals which will overpower them. Our pokémon are all stronger than theirs combined. Not all of their members will be there, that's a ridiculous idea, but a fair amount will be because they're holding such strong pokémon and even people." He admitted. "They will be protected by guards no doubt, follow what Gary does and what he will do. He is the biggest opponent against them right now and we can't be in his way." She nodded. "And I won't leave you."

Dawn's eyes widened. "You won't?"

"I won't."

Dawn smiled softly and averted her gaze from his. "I'm sorry." She said softly. "I didn't mean any of it."

"Of what?" He asked her an eyebrow rose, questioning.

Dawn looked up at him again. "Our fight in Kalos."

Paul's face hardened back into a frown. "Not now."

Dawn was taken aback. "W-what?"

"We can talk about this later. Now isn't a good time." He looked away from her and his hand slipped out of her grasp. "Just focus on the task at hand."

"Right..."

* * *

 **A day early again! I couldn't wait to post this chapter so here it is! It's 3000 words too! Longer than what I usually write which is about 2500.**

 **What do you think the battle will turn out like?**

 **We also know of three of the protectors hurray! And possibly three more? ;)**

 **Hope you all have an amazing week guys!**


	23. Chapter 22

**Before this chapter starts, I want to say that this is the longest chapter written so far and the last POV is pretty dark, I changed a few words so it wouldn't be as bad as I had orginally planned. I wanted to warn those ahead of time who may be uncomfortable with images of violence. Nothing is explicitly stated but inferred as the reader would like it to be at the moment.**

* * *

 **Chapter 22**

 **June 21st, 2006**

Gary clenched his fists in frustration. He never thought he could hate something as much as he hated Team Rocket. He was furious, and with all honesty it did scare him a little because right now he was willing to do anything to get the three back. After seeing and feeling the extremes that Lugia felt, and no doubt that Ho-Oh and Celebi felt too, he couldn't imagine the state Leaf, Ash and Lyra were in. Gary knew he'd kill if he had to. He didn't want to be the same monster that Team Rocket was but he just needed to do _something,_ he couldn't let his pokémon do all the work, he wouldn't feel satisfied. Gary needed to beat as many people as he could to a pulp for their actions, and even if they didn't partake in anything bad, they still joined the masses of Team Rocket and that was unforgivable.

The radio tower loomed overhead, the sky was dark as it was still night. No lights were on as far as he could tell. Who knows if they draped anything over the windows? Gary paused, everyone behind and beside him paused as well. Sammy was the one standing next to him, the other current very important person.

"What should we do?" Sammy asked, there was a familiar glint in his eyes that Gary couldn't quite place. "I think the best thing we should do is split into groups, correlate our pokémon so we have the advantage and attack. The night will give us reasonably good cover and it's the best plan we have so far." Sammy answered his own question and closed his eyes tightly. He chewed the inside of his cheek as he concentrated. "The other three are still a ways away; they're at the edge of Ecruteak City." Sammy was by far the best at connecting with his legendary partner to seek out the others. No form of pain came to him like it did to Gary.

"What do they look like?" Gary asked. "We should keep an eye out if we know."

Sammy closed his eyes again. "There are two boys and one girl. Both boys are wearing hats and one has brown hair while the other has black. The girl has light blue hair, she has a yellow hat on too, it's different from the two boys. One boy has a Pikachu with him and..." His featured contorted and he frowned. "Now the girl has picked up somebody and pulled them onto Suicune? What...?" Sammy silently questioned.

"What does he look like?"

"Long red hair, black jacket."

Gary scratched his head. "Do you know any of them yourself?"

"Can't say that I do. Probably people like you from the future."

Gary nodded. "That's most likely true." He looked behind him at the others. "Two groups of four and one group of three." He said loud enough for them all to hear.

"What?" Iris asked.

Gary ignored her, "Group going through the front entrance is Misty, Drew, Iris and Clemont. Group going to the back entrance is Dawn, Serena, Paul and me. Group waiting outside in case of other grunts being called; Sammy, May and Cilan, you'll enter the building after waiting twenty minutes outside, stay outside if grunts do show up. Let's hope that the others also show up by the time you go inside." Nobody argued and went into their selective groups. "Group at the front entrance is to keep the majority of the grunts distracted while back entrance group is to make their way to the top where everyone is being held captive." He looked around at everybody and nodded once. "Okay, let's go."

The three others in Gary's group approached him. He looked at each one of them in their own turn. "Hold onto a pokéball. We're going right in."

"Okay." Dawn agreed slowly. "We're going to do this." She said enthusiastically, though it sounded more like she was telling herself that than the group.

Paul looked down at the blue haired teen. "Just remember what I said." He advised. "You'll be fine." Dawn stared at him and took a deep breath then gave him a firm nod.

"All of you will do great!" Serena encouraged. "You three are all very strong trainers and your will as a person is powerful and I know all of you will be unstoppable. You've all been trainers for such a long time; this will be like any other battle you've faced. Unlike me who's started much, much later than usual and have very little battling experience. This will be a breeze for you!"

"Serena, you're a strong trainer too!" Dawn said quickly. "Just look at your team! They're all super strong pokémon. If anything you're probably the kindest person here and the most helpful. I _know_ you're a strong trainer Serena, just as strong as you are talented. I'm really happy Gary put you in our group. Your personality will give me a calming presence and a refreshment from these two, cocky and stotic."

"You think I'm _cocky_?"

"How the hell am I stotic?"

Dawn looked between the two with a wry smile. "Are you both being serious? Gary do you even know who you are? Paul, I think the question is; how the hell are you not stotic? Your only emotion is anger." She teased. Paul glared at her for a moment too long, then whipped his head around and ignored her.

"Cocky?" Gary muttered under his breath and his face was set into a frown. "Whatever, let's just hurry up and get to the back of the building. I need to kick some Rocket ass quite literally."

"Lead the way sir." Dawn said with a cocky grin of her own. "You're the one who's in charge here."

Gary gave her a look and led the way to the back of the building. He let her get away without more arguing, if it calmed her nerves then so be it. Dawn was still young and it was understandable, she was being put in an experience that she shouldn't have to go through, then again the others shouldn't go through it wither but just knowing that they were older, that made them think that they had to be stronger. The majority of the group was at or older than the legal age of eighteen, so they were all considered adults.

He paused at the door, one hand on the handle while another was holding onto a pokéball in the other. He looked behind him, checking each of the other's hands which were also clutching onto matching red and white balls. He gave them a signal indicating that he was going to open the door and got a positive response from each of the three other trainers in his group. The door didn't budge. Gary jiggled the handle again and got the same result, he cursed under his breath. A hand placed itself on his arm and gently pushed him away. Serena held up a bobby pin and a nail filer. She gave him a gentle smile. "Always have to look your best when preforming right?" She reasoned. Gary smiled back at her and let her take over; inserting the two items into the lock and after a few tries, the door clicked and she swung it open. The room was dark, the only light came from what had leaked inside from the door being pushed open. Dust particles could be seen floating around in the room. Dawn released her Quilava and the flame's on his back exploded to life, giving some sense of light, enough to be able to close the door. "Be careful," Gary advised. "There could be people in this room."

"I don't think there is." Paul disagreed. "There's nothing really in here except for clothing, it's pretty clear to see that."

The room was small and black costumes were either lined up hanging on the wall or neatly folded in piles with papers taped to the wall indicating their sizes. Paul stepped forward and picked up an outfit from the extra small pile, handing it to Dawn. "Put it on." He instructed. "They're bigger idiots than I thought by putting their uniforms here; let's just hope it isn't meant for some sort of trap. Dawn carefully looked over the clothing. "Jessie and James wear white."

"That we do!" A voice cackled, making both Serena and Dawn groan. Gary turned his attention to the door, a tall red-haired woman standing next to it. "Black is Johto division uniforms, white is Kanto. Why are all you twerps here? I thought the twerp with the Pikachu was done with Johto?"

"I thought you were done with Johto too, why are you here?" Gary asked. "Shouldn't you be in Kalos stalking around to find Ash?"

"I agree." Serena said. "Why did you just get up and leave? The break from you three was nice but why would you leave the kid who's supposedly your job?"

Jessie shook her head. "The boss stationed us here... though now that I've seen what he's done to the legendary pokémon, I don't quite agree."

"You don't agree?" Dawn questioned. "What do you mean?"

"James and I aren't criminals!" Jessie said shrilly, her hands firmly planted on her hips and she glowered at the teens, she tried to look down on all of them but that was hard to do for Gary, who was the same height as her, and Paul who towered over her like he did to everyone else. "Who do you think we are?" She asked.

"You're part of Team Rocket, it's pretty clear to see who you are." Paul said dryly. "Unlike you, or Ash, we are not morons. Like we'll fall for what you're trying to say to us."

"I'm being serious here!" Jessie grumbled. "James is trying to help your trapped friends upstairs right now and Meowth is trying to find the others. We've been doing field work most of our lives and have never actually been in the loop where we do the super evil things like what Proton has planned."

"Proton?" Gary questioned. "Who's he?"

"Proton is one of Rocket's four highest executives. Boss had stationed them all over the regions as Rocket representatives and temporary leaders for the organizations in each region. Proton is in charge here and as you can tell, he seems to be just as sadistic as the other three." Jessie shrugged casually as if this was knowledge that everybody should know. "Proton is in charge of Johto and is calling all the shots, still run by Boss of course before he actually does anything."

"Leave the building." Gary instructed the much older woman. She stared at him, her mouth agape.

" _Excuse me_?" She said haughtily, " _Leave_ the _building_?"

"Yes, you're not somebody that we can trust and even if you are telling the truth then the best bet is for you to run before you get caught, tell your friends that too. We can handle this thing ourselves."

Jessie stared at him with a narrowed eyed look. "Listen here twerp, who do you think I am? I'm the lovely Jessie and nobody can talk to me like that, not even James' mother!"

"James'... mother...?" Dawn deadpanned. "Can you just go please? It will help us greatly."

"Fine!" Jessie exclaimed as she snapped her head around to face Dawn, "I'm only going to do this because you were a decent enough rival in Sinnoh. No matter how much I want those legendary pokémon in my grasp, you better get them out of here." Jessie grabbed a hold of the doorknob, "James, Mewoth and I are plenty capable of capturing them ourselves." She paused for a moment and added, "Top floor, not the lookout deck." She then turned and made her exit.

Gary sighed as he watched her leave. "Grab a uniform and put it on." Gary made his way over and grabbed a medium while Serena got a small and Paul, a large. Gary pulled his regular shirt over his head and tossed it aside, everybody else was doing the same, nobody really cared for privacy at this point in time, there were other more important matters to worry about instead. When Gary was finished, he didn't turn around.

"Is everybody dressed?" He asked. There was a chorus of "Yes." And he turned around, Serena and Dawn matching and Paul and him were matching. "Good, let's storm the place." Gary threw open the other door, shouts immediately reached their ears. Gary released his Umbreon and took off running down the short hallway. He reached the end and peered around the edge of the wall, two Rockets were engaged in a tough looking battle with Iris who was commanding her Gabite to viciously attack a Raticate and a Golbat. Gary frowned, perhaps Gible had evolved into a Gabite moments before because he didn't remember it evolving any other time.

"Gabite, crunch!" She shouted and the dragon pokémon raced forward, its teeth gleaming. Iris spotted them as they raced by. Gary gave her a small smile and jerked his thumb behind him, hoping that she understood what he meant. She gave him a subtle nod and focused her attention back onto the continuing battle.

Gary spotted a staircase not too far away. He didn't look back to see if the others were following him as he made a quick dash to it. He pushed open the door that blocked his way in and rushed up them, taking two stairs at a time. He could hear the pattering of feet racing up after him, too many to count if everybody was there or not, or if they even had an extra Rocket after them. "Top floor... Top floor..." He raced up, not once taking a break, how many flights were there exactly?

A group of grunts burst out of one door. "What are you doing?" One of them demanded. Gary took a deep breath to steady his breathing then replied.

"Going to see if any more protection is needed upstairs, we were asked by a higher up downstairs. There's so many of them coming in they wanted us to help backup upstairs."

The grunt stared at Gary then nodded slowly. "Very well. Get to your posts."

"We'll be there in a flash." Gary promised. The grunt didn't more for a moment then stepped around Gary and the three others, leading the way back to the first floor.

"That was close." Dawn sighed. Gary looked back, analysing the three with him. Paul, Dawn and Serena all seemed to be tired but the looks on their faces showed otherwise. Gary couldn't help the small smirk upon seeing Dawn squeezing onto Paul's hand.

"It was nothing we couldn't handle." Gary said reassuringly. "If I counted correctly this is the fourth floor, the next one is where we need to be, so get yourselves ready."

"Got it."

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

Iris looked at the group she was assigned to by Gary. "We're a pretty solid team." Iris noted, "Three gym leaders and a top coordinator." She placed her hands on her hips firmly. "I guess we might as well barge in right now. The sooner we start the sooner we'll finish."

"I'm ready." Misty said, she had two pokéballs in her hands. "Do you think a Gyarados will fit in there, or will he be too big?"

"It'll be too big." Drew commented. "I was wondering the same on whether I should use my Flygon or not, I'm just going to stick with Absol for now."

Misty nodded. "Yeah, I've learned my lesson by using certain water types out of water so I have five others I can use instead." She laughed. "Goldeen isn't much help flailing on the ground."

"Be sure to stay away from me." Clemont noted. "It won't help either if your pokémon get electrocuted by mine."

"I'll stay in the middle, Iris and Clemont can go to the left and Misty can go to the right." Drew instructed. "That way those who need to be separated will be, just be wary of whoever's next to you."

"I'm going in now." Iris said, she didn't want to wait any longer, the other's might be inside and they needed to get to the others, Gary and Sammy were the only two people who really knew where the others were, but Sammy was needed outside to greet the other three protectors that were supposedly coming, and being the small group that they were, small compared to Team Rocket, they needed to act now and they needed to act fast.

"We're ready," Clemont nodded. "Let's go."

Once she heard his words, Iris made a dash for the door, enlarging Gible's pokéball. She smashed through the door, causing it to crash loudly against the walls. There were a few people stationed on the first floor and Iris immediately threw the pokéball into the air and in a flash of bright red light, Gible appeared. "Dragon claw!" She shouted and Gible's claws enlarged, encased in a bright red light and be began to slash anything in sight. Next to her there were collective shouts of;

"Thunderbolt!"

"Razor wind!"

"Water pulse!"

Different objects around the room burst into smoke as each attack hit something around her. The grunts immediately went into action, pulling out their own pokémon and commanding them to use moves that so far barely put a scratch on the other's pokémon.

"Dig!" Iris called with a grin. Gible's face matched her own as it began to tear through the floor, not actually going deep enough so he would fall. Looking around, Misty was holding back three pokémon with her own Politoed. Drew continued to call attacks for Absol that would damage the building further, and Clemont had called out a second pokémon. Chespin and Helioisk fought furiously with a large Houndoom, one that was bigger than usual.

"Clemont!" Iris called to get his attention. He gave her a quick glance and a small nod, barely taking his attention away from his two fighting pokémon. In that small span of a glance she jabbed her thumb, indicating that she was going elsewhere, spotting an open hallway that she could possible sneak around and fight more grunts by surprise.

Iris made a mad dash to the place she spotted, narrowly missing a racing Furret with unsheathed claws which had been enlarged to a terrifying size. She turned around and shouted to her Gible. "Dragon claw!" Gible's claws flashed white and sunk deeply into the Furret's side a cry came from it and it whipped its body around, flinging Gible. The dragon-type did a rotation in the air and sent a blazing flamethrower at the Furret, without Iris asking, though she couldn't complain about the choice of move. The Furret began to race around in a circle; it looked similar to a Linoone at the speed it was going at, though it wasn't moving in a straight line. The flamethrower still hit the Furret and left a visible burn on it. "Crunch!" Gible started its decent and bit the Furret directly where it was previously burned. Furret began to thrash, its claws elongating again and slashing at Gible. Suddenly, Gible's body began to glow a bright white. Iris grinned. Gible's appearance began to get larger and lankier getting a longer torso, legs, and arms.

"Gabite!" It shouted.

"One more dragon claw!"

Gabite brought down its arm and slashed at the Furret. It let out one more cry of pain before falling limp of the floor, fainting. Iris couldn't help but envelope her pokémon in a quick hug before letting him go and hurrying to the hallway. A Raticate and Golbat jumped in her way and Iris smiled down at Gabite. "Let's kick some ass! Gabite, crunch!" The Raticate leaped out of the way and bared it's front teeth which gleamed from a super fang attack.

There was movement out of the corner of her gaze, she glanced over quickly and spotted a Rocket grunt. Upon a closer inspection she recognised the face. Gary gave a jab behind him. She didn't really understand what he was telling her but she nodded nonetheless. Gary was pleased with her reaction and ran towards a staircase, she watched as Dawn, Serena and Paul raced after him.

"Carnivine!" A familiar voice shouted, it was then followed by a loud screech. "No get off of me! You're not supposed to bite me, oh and use bullet seed!" Seeds were blasted all around the two pokémon, causing small explosions to injure them.

Iris looked around for the source. She saw the Carnivine and gasped when she saw who was ordering it. None other than the blue haired Rocket grunt himself, James, was defending her.

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

May waited impatiently with Cilan and Sammy. Sammy had his eyes closed, concentrating hard on the three, or now four, others that were going to come and help. Their given twenty minutes have long passed, they weren't following the plan but Sammy kept on insisting that the others would show up soon.

"They're almost here." Sammy announced. "They just got into Goldenrod city. Suicine, Entei and Raikou are moving faster now; it'll probably be a matter of minutes before the get here." Sammy opened his eyes and looked to his two companions; there was a gleam in them. "Once they get here, then we can go inside."

Just like Sammy had said, the others did in fact arrive in a matter of minutes, four minutes and thirty-two seconds to be exact, not that May was counting or anything.

May didn't know how to explain it, but she could tell when the three legendary beasts were coming. It felt as if a huge thunderstorm was looming around them, a wave of heat and followed by a muggy-electric feeling in the air. She was almost certain that a storm would in fact be coming along with the arrival of the legendries. It wasn't something to be certain about, it was a fact.

The first one to arrive was Entei, the boy sitting on its back slid off with a smile. "Four protectors are at your service!" Heat blared around them, instantly making May sweat and wipe at her brow and chin. She craved for a drink of cold water, but she didn't doubt it would start boiling if she did have one.

"Pika!" A pikachu announced as it jumped off of Entei and onto the boy's shoulder. It had a tuft of fur that looked very much like hair; this Pikachu looked nothing like the Pikachu that belonged to Ash, the one she was so used to.

"Four?" Sammy asked, "There were only three legendary pokémon with you. I could only connect to three of you briefly."

The boy nodded, "Yeah four. There's a total of seven legendary pokémon confined in the area of Goldenrod City."

May frowned. "What do you mean seven? There should only be six."

The boy shook his head. "No seven," He held up his hands and began to count them off on his fingers. "Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Celebi, Ho-Oh, Lugia and Lugia's child."

"That's right," Cilan agreed. "We had a whole conversation on whether or not legendary pokémon can breed and it's been proven that some in fact can despite our understanding. Most legendary pokémon have been proven to be genderless but Lugia is a prime example of that mystery."

"But how can it breed without..." May trailed off.

"Genitalia?" Cilan spoke for her, "It's like what I said, some legendary pokémon can breed without them, which is why we cannot comprehend how."

There was a small shock that erupted from the ground, startling May. In a leap, Raikou landed beside Entei, the boy sitting on top of it slid off just like the first did. "Jeez Ritchie," he sighed. "You were right, Entei is faster."

"Of course Entei is." He reached over and stroked the legendary with a smile.

The other boy took off his hat and rubbed his forehead. "Why does it have to be so hot around these guys?"

"Entei is a fire-type." Ritchie reasoned. "Suicune is a water-type and can control the moisture in the air, usually trying to keep it cool because Entei's trying to make it warmer. Lightning comes when hot and cold air collides, which is electricity." He shrugged. "Basic science."

The other boy glared at him. "Yeah, thanks for making me seem stupid genius." He muttered. He glanced at the group, "Anyway, my name's Jimmy! The other two should be coming soon."

As if on cue, the others did in fact arrive. With a rush of chilling air, Suicune landed gracefully next to Entei and Raikou, letting out a pleasant noise of greeting. "Marina!" Jimmy said loudly. "It only took you forever." The blue haired girl waved him off.

"Are we going to go inside or what?" The third, red-haired boy asked. "We're here for a reason and we should get it done as soon as possible before I lose my position." His cold gaze immediately flashed to May who stiffened, she was caught staring, but there was something odd about this guy. She didn't know if it was just her first impression of him or what it was exactly.

Marina jabbed him with her elbow. "I'm Marina," She looked to the boy who frowned at her.

"Gin." He introduced plainly. He then looked to the three people he traveled with. "We need to go in now. If we wait any longer I will pass out."

"Do you experience pain too?" Sammy asked. "I don't, not anymore, but I know of one inside who does, possibly two."

Gin nodded. "Chest pains, headache." He stated. "That's why we need to go now, I cannot tell whether it is my lungs or my heart, or both." He took a deep breath, it seemed like he was in no pain.

"Shouldn't it hurt to breathe like that?" May asked wryly.

Gin narrowed his eyes at her. "Of course it does. That's why I'm barely breathing if you haven't noticed; it's also why I don't want to talk." He turned back to Jimmy, Marina and Ritchie, he then pointed to the building.

"Yes we can go in now." Marina answered.

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

Gary stared at the door with a frown. It said it was the fifth floor and so far they had hardly gone through anything significantly tough. He took a few calming breaths to soothe his anxiety about the situation and touched the doorknob, pushing it open.

The room was dark and was only lit by the light oozing off of the computer monitors around the room giving the room an eerie glow. There was a steady tapping noise, probably form a computer, but it could also be something so much worse. He reached into his pocket, feeling relief when he touched the round pokéballs inside. He was almost there; he was so close to her.

Looking around the room closer, he realised that it was the room he had seen through Lugia. Gary looked towards one end of the large room. The wall were steel-lined like he had thought and it was overall chilly and malicious. A place nobody would ever want to be, it just leaked an evil aura. He could hear the breaths of the others behind him. He tried his best to ignore them and concentrate as hard as he could. There were so many important things in this room and he couldn't exactly pinpoint where to go first.

Gary felt drawn to this one point in the corner. He looked around to try and see if the presence he felt was what he thought it to be. Seeing no signs of a free roaming human, he stalked towards the corner. Every hair on his body stuck up, both from adrenaline and from a deep underlying fear that was impossible to ignore. He could feel his heart pick up speed and hammer harshly against his lungs, into his throat, and down to his toes.

There was a splash as he stepped through some kind of puddle. Once he heard a harsh gasp and a small whimper from behind, he had decided not to look, only imagining what it could be. The only thing it had to be.

A puddle of fresh blood.

Even though he knew what it was, not looking down made it seem less repulsive. He kept walking in the direction he felt that called to him. He could see where his body was leading him now. There was a tall, floor to ceiling glass cage in front of him. It was split into sections to accommodate each of the things inside it.

Two Lugias.

One Ho-Oh.

One Celebi.

Three battered human bodies.

None were dead, but they might as well be. The three legendary pokémon looked horrid and one from what he could see, so did the people. He could feel a strong gaze on him. He looked directly in front of him and stared up at the great pokémon before him. The one that protected the seas. The one that he protected. Gary could feel power surge within him. He clenched his jaw and pulled out a pokéball without saying a word. In a flash of red light his partner pokémon stood behind him.

"Rapid spin Blastoise," He said calmly. Much calmer than what he had expected to come from himself. Blastoise retracted its body into its shell, head, appendages, cannons, everything. Slowly, but surely, Blastiose began to pick up speed and rammed itself against the glass, there was hardly a crack. He felt the floor shake and one by one, three other pokémon began to attack. There was an Aagron using metal claw, a Mamoswine using take down and a Slyveon using swift, Gary smiled.

The glass began to break more and more, the sound of the attacks catching the attention of all that were captured. Gary looked towards the three people who were tangled in the mess, hell, they were all tangled in this mess and this was just the beginning of the whole thing, and Gary was the one to start it all. He was making the first move to make things right in the world again.

He watched as he saw three sets of eyes light up in happiness upon seeing them there. Giving them their own smile, a cocky one like Dawn said, and an overconfident wave, Gary pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose so he could get a better look. Ash sat up quickly, his hair was matted and his hat was gone. His grin dazzled through the glass. Lyra smiled weakly, her hair had been pulled from its pigtail and noticeably cut shorter in some chunks but seemed rather unharmed despite a few bruises here and there. Looking back to Ash he pointed to the glass section beside him. There was a girl he had not seen in person in two years. She had the expression he would remember the best out of every face he had seen. The happiness on her face outshined the horrible things done to her body. Gary's gaze softened when he saw her, his smile became gentler. He knew he still loved her just as much as he had two years ago.

Then the glass shattered.

* * *

 **Woooo! Three more characters introduced :))))) Sorry for the long wait! I had limited internet thanks to my youtube obsessed little brother, but hey, this chapter on it's own is over 5000 words long! Only one other chapter had been 5000+ words long and that was when everything went downhill and May, Drew, Dawn, and Paul had to get a flight to leave for Kalos!**

 **Tell me your thoughts! About the chapter, current characters and newly introduced characters! For those of you wondering, I'm trying to use mostly game and anime-verse characters. I've never read the adventures manga so I'd rather not try and guess each character's personality.**

 **Have a lovely week!**


	24. Chapter 23

**BLOOD AND GUN WARNING. THESE WILL BE MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE READ THE** _ **WHOLE**_ **AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END AS IT IS** _ **VERY**_ **IMPORTANT.**

 **Chapter 23**

 **June 21st, 2006**

The sound of the glass shattering was nothing but music to Gary's ears. It embedded confidence and hope into both the rescuers and the ones who were captured. He smiled, once the glass shattered Lugia seemed to have energy going through it in waves, it took its eyes off of Gary and focused them on its child on the other side of Ho-Oh. Lugia let out a loud cry and its baby gave one back, equally as loud and ever more excited.

"It's so cute!" He heard Dawn say from behind him. "I love babies!" Serena began to speak with her rapidly, but quietly, on the topic of children. He laughed and shook his head at the younger girl's antics, now wasn't really the time or place.

"Just hold on." He said to Lugia who turned its steely gaze back onto him. "I'll get you out." He promised. "Guys," he turned back to the others, "Can you get out Ash and Lyra?" He asked.

"Do you want us to get the other girl too?" Paul asked.

Gary hesitated. He looked from Lugia, to Leaf and then to Paul, repeating the motion over and over again. "You—" The searing headache came rushing back and his hand instantly reached up to rub his forehead. He stared at Lugia who used one of its free fingers to motion to Leaf. "But I have to help you." He insisted, the pain ebbed away slowly but then flared back up, this time quicker. Lugia motioned to Leaf again. "Are you sure?" He asked tentatively and with one final point Lugia had made its final decision. It let out another cry which made Ho-Oh, Celebi and the child Lugia cry as well.

"Help out your friend." A calming, kind voice insisted.

"You can use telepathy?" He asked

"Yeah!" A second voice said, Gary inspected the other three legendary pokémon and saw Celebi giving him a closed eyed smile. "We can tough it out for a little while longer, we can tell how much those humans mean to you, their lives will help make you improve. Plus Lyra is needed for Ho-Oh right?" Celebi looked up at the large bird-like pokémon.

"That is correct." A third booming voice said, like Celebi and Lugia, there was no clear sound that would depict a gender in the voice.

"If they can wait so can I!" A child said, there was only one who could speak like that. "We're legendary pokémon for a reason right?" Baby Lugia reasoned. "Save them!"

Gary stared at them all and slowly nodded, he fished in his pocket, having an idea. "Nidoking!" He called and released the pokémon. "Can you help get these guys out?" He asked. "They're held by some electrical thing and since you're a ground-type I figured that you'd be fine." Nidoking looked at the four legendries, his eyes widening slightly. He nodded to Gary and approached the pokémon. Gary looked to Blastoise, "I need you to help me with Leaf, you remember her right?"

"Toise!" Blastoise exclaimed, he did remember the brunette, how could he not?

"Great," Gary said and took a deep breath, then began to walk over to her. She stared at him through the glass; he could see her emotions clearly in her hazel eyes, something that didn't happen before she was taken away from him. He clenched his fists as he took in her overall appearance. Her hair was jaggedly cut in some places like Lyra's, but not nearly as short. Bruises and cuts dusted across her body. There were smudges of dried blood all around the cell. She was barely being covered in her torn shirt and pants. He glowered. "I'm really going to kill them all." He said. "Rapid spin Blastoise." He ordered.

Blastoise gingerly touched his trainer's shoulder. "Blastoise." His pokémon said then pulled his body in his shell and began to break away at the glass.

It felt like ages to Gary as he watched her protect herself for when the glass finally broke. More and more cracks appeared on the see-through surface. He glanced over at Nidoking who was still working away at Lugia.

Shards of glass pelted the floor as Blastoise finally broke through. He could see new cuts gracing her pale, bruised skin. Despite wanting to protect himself from the glass, he raced in to her and fell on his knees, immediately pulling her into an embrace. He could feel her body shake as she let out quiet sobs. Gary could never remember a time when Leaf had cried other than at his own parent's funeral. Leaf cried for him because he wouldn't, not until he was by himself at home where he was hidden from everybody around him. Gary held onto her tightly, he didn't even know what to say. Words could not describe the emotions he was experiencing. Everything exploded inside of him. Joy, anger, sadness, love, hate.

There was a sniffle and she pulled an arm off from around him and wiped at her face. "Gary..." She said quietly. She looked up at him, face blotched red from crying but her eyes sparkled and her smile was just as dazzling. "I though just seeing Ash was enough to give me hope, but as soon as I saw you..." She sniffled and lifted a hand to wipe at her eyes again but Gary beat her to it and wiped away the tears that had spilled.

"You're going to be okay." He promised and gently caressed her cheek before pulling his hand away. "I won't let anything happen to you again." He hugged her again briefly before standing up and helping her to her feet. "We need to get out of here now. Can you run?"

There was a loud ear-splitting scream behind him. Gary whipped his hand around and stared at the new person standing, holding a captive Serena. He had blue-green hair and there was an evil sneer on his face. "Why hello," He greeted coolly. "What are you little teenagers doing here? Why are you trying to release these evil beings?" He questioned. "Do you not understand the destruction hat those three creatures caused for the whole region of Johto?" His eyes trailed from Leaf to Ash and then Lyra, "Must you free the evil human beings too? Do you really want the whole world to fall into peril?"

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Let her go." He commanded.

The man smiled and ran his fingers through Serena's bobbed locks. "I rather like her hair." He grinned. "Hair is a woman's best feature, don't you think?" He chuckled. "May I ask why I should let such a lovely young lady go?"

"Because she is not your property!" A new voice bellowed. Gary whipped his head to look at the new person. He didn't recognised them, they were standing in the shadows of the large bookcases that lined the room, all he could see was a gleam coming from where their face should be and light blue baggy pant legs. Thunders of footsteps echoed in his ears. In one swift movement, a new wave of rocket grunts appeared, each holding many pokéballs in their hands. Each pokéball got tossed into the air and the whole room was illuminated by a flash of red.

"I-I don't have any pokémon on me, they were taken..." Gary heard Leaf say. Gary shoved his hand into his pocket roughly and quickly pushed a pokéball into Leaf's hands.

"She'll listen to you, don't hesitate." Gary glanced to Blastoise and gave his pokémon a curt nod. Water barrelled out of Blastoise's cannons and the torrent of strong hydro pumps blasted the surrounding pokémon back. Paul and Dawn had both sprang into action as well. Aagron was throwing various pokémon across the room and rammed some into the ground. Paul also had Tortarra out who was using stone edge. Dawn was right next to him with Piplup, commanding him to send various bubblebeams to different pokémon.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed very drastically. Gary could feel sweat begin to form on his forehead and back from the heat that kept growing hotter and hotter. The humidity in the building rose and Gary started to feel exhausted. Gary commanded moves to Blastoise as he was protecting Nidoking who was still relentlessly working on freeing Lugia. While Gary called out moves, he also kept a close eye to see if he could spot the person who had bravely shouted in Serena's defence. She was still being held tightly by the man who Gary knew to be Proton; there was nobody else who it could be but him.

The pressure in the room was almost unbearable. Three large creatures caught Gary's eye and he knew why he felt so uncomfortable. In the room Clemont had appeared with the group that was outside, Cilan, May, and Sammy, along with the four newcomers. The one with long red hair made a mad dash to Gary, a pokéball enlarged as he sent out a Feraligatr. The pokémon's jaws unhinged and stretched wide, snapping at the electric cords constraining the younger Lugia. The Feraligatr was much stronger than Nidoking and after a few seconds of tugging, broke it free. At this point Nidoking had released one wing of the mother Lugia. It let out a loud cry and stared at its child that was free.

Havoc and chaos was breaking out around the large room. Things got shattered, walls were dented and there could be seen, a bright sheen of red blood that dotted the room, on walls, floors and the ceiling.

"Hydro Cannon!" Gary called to his Blastoise again. He took his chance and took a longer look around the room, seeing Paul's Aagron and Torterra working side by side with Piplup. A Charizard had grabbed a hold of flying Crobats, Golbats and Zubats. A Wigglytuff was singing pokémon to sleep as a spiky haired Pikachu attacked them right after. A Blaziken was kicking away various smaller pokémon like Rattata. A flat Stunfisk electrocuted any pokémon that had stepped on it. Gary's Nidoqueen was working spectacularly with Leaf. He could see Ash and Lyra borrowing pokémon too, Lyra was working with another Feraligatr and Ash was working with a very furious looking Slyveon. Gary didn't recognise either of the pokémon.

"Rapid spin!" Gary commanded. His eyes flicking to his battle and to the others happening in the room and then to the legendary pokémon. Celebi was now free too and Gary saw it disappear in midair. Going somewhere Gary couldn't think of.

"Freeze!" A voice ordered and the whole room stopped. Gary looked to where the shout came from and he could feel his body stop working. Proton had a malicious smirk on his face while a gun was being pointed at Serena while the other hand had one pointing at Clemont. The electric type gym leader had a Helioisk at his side and one arm was outstretched in front of him. Gary couldn't see his eyes as the glasses caught the light from a single bulb overhead. Proton laughed. "See how easy it is to follow orders? You young group of people look promising, it's a real shame that I need to kill you all... unless you chose to do what I say or this one here will be killed first." He pressed the barrel of the pistol into Serena's skin.

"What do you want?" Ash asked loudly. Proton was scanning the room with his cold gaze.

"I'm sure you know what I want, but I'll be nice and tell you anyway. Put the legendries back. Then put the protectors in a cell." He shrugged. "Sounds simple right?"

"You're not putting anybody in cells." Serena said quietly. "The protectors will save the regions that you messed up. You're not going to take anybody."

"Serena stop." Lyra said. "If it's us he wants put away, I'll go."

"No!" She shouted this time. "Don't be an idiot! Don't do as he says it's a stupid question for him to ask us! Don't give them what they want!"

"I think you're saying the stupid thing." Proton said. "Clearly you do not understand the terrifying capabilities of these creatures if they are released into the wild."

"And that's why we can't put them in your possession!" Serena growled out. Gary was taken aback. Serena was never this fierce. She was the quiet and kind girl. "We may be young but we're not as stupid as you think we are. Allowing you to handle these legendries is something that we should not do."

"Serena—" Lyra tried again.

"No!" Serena shouted again, a loud bang followed suit. Gary tensed at the sound. Though as he was expecting, Serena wasn't the one who collapsed. Clemont let out a noise as he fell and clutched onto his shin tightly, his light blue pants turned a dark purple as the blood seeped through. In a flash, Gary saw movement from behind Proton and form the front of him. Helioisk let out a loud cry, taking a step forward before sending a large parabolic charge at the Rocket executive. There was another bang and Helioisk let out a cry of pain and collapsed by his trainer.

The distraction was just enough for a person clad in black to grab Proton by the waist and slam him into the ground. It was a Rocket grunt. More Rocket members raced to their executive's aid. Boldly, Serena joined in the fray and Gary could see Ash running forwards to help too. Gary glanced back at Lugia and took the chance. "Rapid spin, brick break!" He hurried and grabbed Leaf who was close by, "Nidoqueen, return!" All three of his released pokémon raced forward and unleashed their attacks. The straps confining Lugia broke free and the super massive pokémon broke free, it screamed and smashed through the wall, causing dust and debris to fall just like the downpour outside. The sky was dark with rumbling clouds in the night sky.

* * *

 **So I've had an idea! I am offically making this a multi-book fanfiction because otherwise, it would be much too long to put all in one. So the first installment (The Carriers of Salvation) is almost over! There's about maybe three more chapters at a maximum and I'm trying to combine the earlier on chapters to make it seem like a lighter read, to trick some other viewers! So in total you should see around 20-30 chapters in total by next week, which means I could possibly be posting a chapter that could be called chapter 20 when it's actually chapter 29.**

 **I hope you all have a lovely week guys and please, please vote and comment!**


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 23**

 **June 21** **st** **, 2006**

The grunts jumped off of each other when Lugia broke through the wall. Drops of rain slowly accumulated into the building, making the floor sparkle with a sheen of cool water. The building shook as debris tumbled from the broken walls and scattered all across the room. Dust filled the air and it caused a few people to breakout in a series of harsh and painful coughs. The crowd stared as the beast disappeared from view into the dark, stormy night sky. It was quiet except for the continued tussling noises from Proton and the opposing rocket grunt. Serena and Ash were still fighting him as well; the two friends were locked in a tight tussle on the floor. Serena had grabbed a hold of one of Proton's guns and slid it on the ground towards Clemont. The steel scarped against the floor, causing a strange, plastic-like sound that just didn't make sense to the ears, though they were all a little messed up from the crashes from Lugia. The bispeckled gym leader gave it a malevolent look before ignoring the harsh pain in his leg and reaching over and grabbing a firm hold of it. He did a quick lock of the gun and held onto it carefully. It wasn't something he wanted to hold onto let alone feel in his palms.

Ash had snagged the other gun and quickly jumped off of the Rocket executive. He held onto the gun and pointed it directly at Proton, Clemont stared. Between Serena and the other Rocket grunt, they managed to straddle and restrain Proton on the tiled floor. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Proton spat to the grunt, he quite literally spat in his face as well. The grunt barely took notice. "You're working for Team Rocket you moron, you signed a contract stating that you can't oppose any of this without severe punishments, and Giovanni knows exactly what is happening right now, he always knows."

"Empty threats." The grunt said with a shrug. "Giovanni can do whatever he wants to me. My life is just one compared to the thousands that were in risk. I took my chances and did what I was planning to do from the very start. Team Rocket is easier to infiltrate than what I expected. All I needed was a fake ID and bam; the G-Men have a spy in Team Rocket. Team Rocket has been beaten twice before in the past, why not a third?" He laughed, "The people who disbanded the Johto headquarters before are in this very room, a few extra G-Men in our presence, the better. Just so you know, Lance knows exactly what is happening right now, he always knows." He smiled down at the green-haired executive.

Proton stared at the grunt with a narrow eyed glare. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded in a yell.

"The person who tricked a whole evil organization, that's who." He said smugly. "I never expected you all to be _this_ stupid. I knew you were all idiots in the first place, but this is honestly pretty laughable."

"I'll remember your face." Proton sneered. "All traitors of Team Rocket will be found and they will receive the proper punishments for their actions, just you wait, nothing will barricade us, not even the protection of the League."

"I'd like to see you try." The grunt retorted and Proton wiggled roughly to try and break free, a leg coming out of Serena's grasp and kicking her in the face. Serena let out a cry and the knee went up to knock the grunt in the back, he let out a gasp, the wind leaving his chest, but barely budged otherwise. Serena constrained his legs again and held onto him tightly. Clemont could see that she was digging her nails into him. "Shoot him." The grunt ordered Ash.

"What?" Ash remarked. "A-are you serious?" His eyes widened at the nod he had gotten in response.

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't serious." The grunt didn't look at him. "I know who you are, you know who I am, we've spoken on more than one occasion. You can trust me, just shoot the gun."

"I..." Ash started.

"Ash, move." Clemont said, a surge of braveness rushed through his body like a drug. He had no fear in his body, not an ounce. He pushed himself up off of the floor and gingerly limped over to the group, it was clear that he was favouring one leg rather than the other. He turned the safety off on the gun and cocked it, pointing it at Proton. "I'll do it." He said scarily calm.

"Clemont—" Ash was cut off.

"Shoot!" The grunt insisted.

Proton narrowed his eyes, "You don't have the guts."

Clemont wasn't shaking like he expected to be. He positioned the gun and in a loud reverberating bang, the gun went off. "I think I do." He said. "You shot me, hurt Serena; I had plenty of guts to be able to shoot you." He hissed. "You are the one who deserves punishment."

The room was quiet. Everybody was in awe of what had transpired before them. Proton didn't even make a sound; he stared at Clemont wide eyed with one hand clamped tightly over his shoulder. Proton's mouth was a gape. There was a series of screeches as Ho-Oh ripped itself free, taking the baby Lugia with it. Ho-Oh's eyes were ablaze with anger and hatred. It stretched its beak wide and formed a streak of white hot flames and sent the beam across the room. Explosions went off, making everybody's ears ring in different degrees. Clemont grabbed Serena and Ash and pulled them towards the stairs. He had to get these two out, they some of the most important things to him. Their safety was at the upmost importance to the inventor.

Gin had grabbed Gary and Lyra much like Clemont had, instead he pulled them harshly towards a staircase in the corner of the room. It looked as if he was trying to pull their arms out of their sockets. "They're angry; we need to calm them down." He instructed. Lyra stared at the red-haired man with narrowed eyes. They suddenly widened as if something made sense.

"You're—" The man didn't let her finish and shoved her to the stairs.

"We need to go now." He insisted.

"What about Sammy?" Gary asked.

Gin still held onto them as he took two steps at a time. "Celebi's gone. There's not much help he can do other than fight. We're more important."

"What about the other protectors?" Lyra asked.

"They'll work on what they need to do. We just need to focus on what we need to do." Gary and Lyra raced up after the red-haired man and Gin swung a large door open. They were standing on the uppermost deck of the tower. They had access to the outside. It was metal all around them and the sky was a dark blue-gray. Both Lugias and Ho-Oh were circling the sky rampantly. Gary had pulled out another pokéball; he had left Blastoise, Nidoking and Nidoqueen downstairs. He just hoped that Leaf would notice and take them with her, or for the others to take them too. He didn't care who so long as they were with somebody trustworthy.

Gary clenched Umbreon's pokéball tightly. He stared as Lugia stared back down at him. He had only one option and it wasn't a good one, or his first choice to do in this situation.

He had to battle it.

 **June 21** **st** **, 2006**

Clemont's arm was yanked as Ash pulled his arm free. "What are you doing?" Serena asked him quickly, "We need to go!"

"I need to find Leaf!" He insisted. "She's probably freaking out right now, she's experienced too much stuff and could be in the middle of a breakdown, that and I need to find where they stored my pokéballs, you guys go on ahead and grab other people. I'll be out soon."

"Ash don't be stupid!" Clemont protested. "It's too dangerous, there are grunts that are probably willing to kill after what I've done to Proton, we need to go now."

"I'm not leaving!" Ash refused. "I'll be okay, I promise!" He smiled fondly at his two worried friends. "My journey's not ending here so don't worry. I'll be there in ten minutes."

Clemont stared at his friend. He let out a sigh of defeat and shook his head slightly. "I'll be counting so you better be out in ten minutes."

Ash laughed with a nod. "Yeah, don't you worry about it!" He gave them a thumbs up and dashed away in the blink of an eye.

Clemont rolled his eyes at Ash's antics. There was a tug on his arm from Serena, he glanced over at her and he could clearly read the worry on her face. "Are you sure we should let him go off on his own?" She asked.

"He's Ash; he's both an amazing and really confusing person. He always ends up being just fine when he's by himself right? Ash will be okay."

A faint smile graced on her lips. "You're right." She agreed. "You are most of the time anyway."

"That's hardly true," Clemont said as he hurried along, tugging her with him. The blazes were becoming more prominent now and had sent a jolt of fright through Clemont's nerves. He hadn't noticed the bright flames because of his distraction with Ash. Now that Clemont had one free hand, he reached and clenched onto a pokéball. Grunts were still racing around the building, either busy trying to put out the flames, catch the people fleeing, or fleeing themselves.

He skidded around a tall shelf and pushed Serena through a door that lead to a winding staircase, the same one Clemont had used before when he first reached the top floor. Serena grabbed a hold of him again and raced down the stairs, a few steps in front of him. He felt himself reeling as Serena dragged him along. He tried to pull his hand from hers.

"You can get away faster if—"

"Don't bother," she said breathlessly, "I'm not letting you leave me too." Her grip tightened on his hand and her eyes had such a fierceness to them, like a pyroar.

They went further and further down the stairs. The unexpectedly, a huge rumble shook the building, little pieces rained down on them, they weren't dancing through the air like the leaves falling from trees in autumn. They crashed down hard on them like softball-sized chunks of hail. The cement hurting just as much, or more, than the rock hard ice pellets.

Clemont could hear the terrified screams from floors above them. His heart raced in distress. They were sure to die.

 **June 21** **st** **, 2006**

Gary narrowed his eyes. Three of his strongest pokémon were not with him, half of his team was gone so he and the last three pokémon he had they all had to work their hardest they could, the same went for Lyra and Gin, they faced the same fate that he did.

Lugia slithered through the air like a snake. It's rage overtaking its mind. The one little mistake made by Proton had set it off into a wild tangent of anger and hatred, Lugia had no conscious thought and it wasn't really to blame. It had undergone something horrible and scarring and its mind had reached its limit. Thunder rumbled loudly behind them.

Gary tried to steady his rapidly beating heart but as he expected, he was unsuccessful, giving up on his attempts. In one swift movement, he threw the pokéball in his hand high into the air.

"Umbreon!" His pokémon snarled. Lugia stilled, its eyes tracing carefully over Umbreon. "Breon!" The dark-type hissed again.

A thought struck Gary; Umbreon was against a psychic and flying type legendary. Gary clenched his fists, he had the upper hand. "You can do this Umbreon. We just need to get it to regain its focus into a positive light." Lugia screeched and spread its wings wide. Its jaw unhinged and out came a wild tornado of wind. It pushed Gary backwards so he stumbled and tripped over his own feet. He steadied himself and glared at the wild beast. "Hidden power!"

Bright white balls appeared out of thin air. In one swift movement, the many balls shot like bullets, each landing solidly against the massive pokémon. Lugia barely flinched at the impacts. Gary frowned, "Hidden power again!" Umbreon repeated the action; bright white balls of light sparked up and grew around the dark-type. The attack hit dead on again, however, this time the wild pokémon let out a cry, one sounding more pained than before, but only slightly. Gary could easily pick up on the tone change in its voice. There was a loud crack as lightning split the sky, illuminating the backs of the three legendries for a brief moment. Their powerful statures loomed over them even more with the quick flash of their black silhouettes in front of the bright white light.

Ho-Oh and Lugia's child had moved in. A tall Azumarill stood beside Lyra while a sinister looking Gengar was next to Gin. Gary could see the red-head's eyes quickly flick from Lyra to the pokémon and back and forth again multiple times in a matter of seconds.

"We all attack on the count of three." Lyra ordered. "Use moves that will cause the most damage at a far range."

"Got it." Gary and Gin spoke simultaneously.

"Three," Lyra started and beside her Azumarill stepped forward, tensing its muscles.

"Two," Gin added next, Gengar let out a loud cackle with its tongue sticking out of its mouth. It stepped forward too.

"One," Gary breathed and Umbreon leapt forward with a snarl.

There was an agonizing pause that in reality was a few seconds only. "Now!" The three shouted in unison.

"Shadow ball!" Gary commanded.

In a booming voice Lyra ordered, "Water pulse!"

Gin spoke much more quietly than the two, but held more authority. "Shadow ball as well!"

The three moves all shot off at the same time, crossing balls of dark, shadowy matter and a swirling torrent of water before they crashed into each designated pokémon respectively.

The smell of smoke reached Gary's nose and the fear-inducing, death causing, black smoke billowed out of the building to his left, the building rumbled viciously underfoot. Gary grimaced. "We are the protectors of Johto, we need to save the region, Team Rocket is already taken care of, now it's up to us to finish this conflict." He said. "It's up to us."

"Don't forget that there are four other protectors!" A voice laughed behind him. "We expected that you'd need as much help as you can get, especially from some G-Men!" Gary smiled slightly, even after meeting the guy for a few brief moments, that energetic voice was easily recognisable. Ethan appeared in the open space next to him, a grin was plastered on his face as he stared at the flying pokémon. "Let's kick some ass once and for all!"

"Don't harm them too much." Kris advised. "They're just infatuated with hate. They just need to realise the truth, the best option is to talk. Fighting will just antagonise them more and make the situation worse. Fighting is out last priority understood?" There were a series of nods. Gary didn't doubt that he was in the real presence of the G-Men.

"Why are you out here?" Gin demanded, "Who's taking care of things inside?"

"Khoury." Ethan replied, he kept his gaze off of Lyra purpousfully.

"Khoury?" She gasped. "He's here?"

Gin's red eyed hardened. "Why the hell would you say that?" He demanded.

Ethan locked eyes with Gin. "She has a right to know, _Gin_."

"Ethan shut up!" Kris ordered.

"Why is Khoury here? Why are you two here?" Lyra asked, hurt, but also hope swam in the depths of her eyes. "We're you all here this whole time?"

"That will be discussed later." Kris said. "We have more pressing matters to deal with other than personal relationships."

"I think this is very important!" Lyra shouted. "I've been looking for you two everywhere and Khoury! I searched through Goldenrod and Ecruteak! Did you know I was looking for you? Did you know I was here? Did you know about what I was?"

"Lyra, your emotions are taking over." Gin said.

Lyra whipped around to look at him. "You're not really who you are either. You're not Gin. I knew it! I knew you were familiar!"

"Lyra—"

Lyra cut him off. "Why haven't you spoken to me?"

"Lyra—"

Gary rushed to her side, this wasn't needed right now. Gray grabbed a hold of her arm and looked down at her. "I'm not sure what is happening right now, but trust these guys and everything will make sense."

Lyra stared up at him, pulling her arm away. "Fine,"

Another voice cursed loudly, "They're attacking!" Gray whipped his head around, Ritchie was there, he hadn't even noticed because he hadn't spoken until now. The man's hat was gone and his hair was tussled. He had a Pikachu in front of him that was sparking electricity. "We can't talk, they only have one objective on their mind and that is to stop us." His eyes widened sharply. "Brace yourselves!"


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

 **June 21st, 2006**

Lyra clenched her fists tightly, so tightly that her bruised and cut knuckles turned a pale white. Gary was right, of course the researcher was right; he was hardly ever wrong. She took a deep breath, though it didn't quell her racing mind. Khoury was here, Ethan was here, Kris was here, even _he_ was here. Her gaze flitted over to him. The red-haired man wouldn't look at her. No, it wasn't whether he would look at her; it was that he didn't want to look at her. Of course she was beyond happy to know that her three most likely closest friends were safe and that she got the chance to see _him_ again. But contradicting her happiness, she was fuming to know that they didn't try to contact her. She knew that they knew what exactly she was. Ethan, Kris and him, they were all protectors just like her and Gary, and _they had known_ where Khoury was. They knew!

Lyra knew her anger wasn't needed or necessary but it was there, it existed. She didn't want to hold such anger but she did, her mind was in a whirl because of the situation that had happened to them before. She couldn't think straight and she didn't know what to do really. Her thoughts were dazed because of her emotions and she hated it. She hated being who she was and she was reacting. She was an emotional mess.

Lyra inched closer to Gary, so far she felt as if he was the only one she could really trust and she had known him for the shortest amount of time out of the five people she was thinking of. Gary gave her a gentile smile.

Kris turned to Suicune, "Is there really no way to stop them that doesn't involve violence?" Suicine took a brief look to the sky and shook its head slowly. Kris sighed heavily. "Very well then," She looked at the group. "A battle it is."

Ritchie stared at her, then to Suicune and to Entei. "Is there really no option?" The brown haired man sighed when Entei shook its head like Suicune did.

"Let's do what we were doing before." Gary spoke to both Lyra and Gin, "It was working."

"Azumarill, bubblebeam!"

"Umbreon shadowball!"

"Use shadow ball Gengar."

A blur raced past Lyra, her short hair moving with the wind it caused. She watched as a bird pokémon flew in line with the other attacks which were sent from her pokémon as well as Gary's and _Gin'_ s. The pokémon was a large Swellow. Swellow was glowing a bright white, soon after; another bird flew out, a Pidgeot. Its wings flapped furiously as it sent torrents of air towards the flying legendries. Three loud roars echoed out in the sky, vibrating the air. The legendary dogs were all standing at the edge of the building. They looked so majestic and strong, standing before the storm. Thunder flashed more and more frequently and furiously. It was getting closer, closer, and closer to Lugia and Ho-Oh. The rain poured down harder and the heat making the air heavy steadily grew, both from inside the burning building and out. Smoke tickled her nose and hurt her lungs. She had to focus and hurry or else the building would collapse.

"Pidgeot!" She called to Ethan's pokémon. The flying-type recognised her and flew over, landing in front of her. Neither Gary nor _Gin_ were paying attention to her. She smiled. She mounted herself quickly on Pigdeot and spoke again. "Fly me to Ho-Oh!" She ordered loudly over the thunder, now gaining attention from the others. Pidgeot quickly took flight and zoomed through the air; she could hear shouts in the distance but paid no mind. She had an idea and it would work. The lightning came flashing next to her, Pidgeot swerved to avoid it; she could still feel the crackle of electricity singe the hair on her arm and tickle through her skin. Ho-Oh was eying them closely. Cautiously Lyra stood up, she refused to look down, knowing that her stomach would churn unpleasantly and plummet quickly down to her feet.

"Just a little closer…" She muttered to herself, though it was unheard because of the rumbling of thunder and she felt the sound waves reverberate deep in her chest. In one quick motion, she leapt, her bare feet being tickled by Pidgeot's malting pale feathers. She crashed into Ho-Oh's side, fear struck through her as she felt herself slip. She snagged onto Ho-Oh's feathers and the legendary let out a cry of pain. Lyra stilled her breathing then let go of one feather and swung to grab onto a higher spot.

A rush of adrenaline surged through her as she successfully grabbed onto the higher feathers. She used her foot to dig into the beast's side and hoisted herself up more. She went to dig her foot in again and her foot slid off quickly, her stomach hit the side of the bird again. She felt the wind leave her chest and she gasped for air. The high altitude made it hard for the air to enter into her lungs again.

Lyra pushed herself to go further, it's not like she could stop now anyway, she was so far above ground. She reached higher and higher, climbing up the massive flying-type legendary. Her muscles began to burn from the exertion but it was a good feeling. Thunder rolled again and the wind both swept her chopped hair off of her face and whipped it into her eyes.

Finally Lyra reached the back of Ho-Oh. She could see now that the bird was thrashing to get her off. She didn't understand how she hadn't been flung off yet. Lyra held on tighter and slowly approached the neck of the beast.

Lyra went over her plan in her head again. She had to be more careful now, more so than before because quite frankly, she hadn't been thinking up until that moment and she regretted it but there was no possible way to go back now so here she was. An idiot standing on the back of Ho-Oh.

Pulling the cold oxygen into her lungs again, she wrapped and arm around Ho-Oh's neck. "Ho-Oh!" She shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by the raging storm. "Ho-Oh!" She tried again, louder. "Ho-Oh!" The bird stopped thrashing its head. Instead, she could see its head turn slightly so it could look down at her. "Ho-Oh please! It's okay, stop fighting. It's not your fault, it's not our fault. Team Rocket is gone, don't worry! You won't be hurt again, please stop fighting!" Ho-Oh didn't make any signs to show that it was listening to what Lyra had said. "I am the one who protects you Ho-Oh, I understand you, I _felt_ you when you needed me! I came, I'm here! Please, I know you don't want to hurt anything; you're just angry and maybe scared. There's nothing that can hurt you anymore, you're safe. If you stop then nothing will be put against you. You and Lugia and its child have already caused enough damage to the building," She pulled herself closer to Ho-Oh's neck, its golden feathers tickling her face. "It's okay to be scared. I'm here to help you."

A tingling sensation traveled through her skin. She closed her eyes and held on tighter. The feeling intensified. "Please!" She begged. It felt as if power surged through her and she pulled back, arms still tightly wrapped around Ho-Oh's neck. Its golden wings let off an eerie glow. Upon closer inspection, she too was glowing a golden sheen.

Her heart stilled and she could feel the massive bird's heart beat under her hands. Her own heart stilled and fell into tune with a rhythmic beat.

The legendary was calming down. She could feel her emotions stirring inside her and Ho-Oh as if they were just one living entity.

Is this what Sammy experienced before?

It seemed as if the world slowed as she became one with Ho-Oh.

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

 _One, two._

 _One, two._

 _One, two._

Dawn's heart pounded viciously in her chest as she frantically raced through the building trying to find a safe exit. She could feel the sweat pool on her lower back, sticking unpleasantly to the black Team Rocket uniform. The building was getting hotter and hotter and smoke slowly filtered into her nose. Her eyes watered with both the frantic feeling stirring within her and just from the sheer heat that was being confined into the building. It also didn't help that she had a huge gash on her forehead, obstructing her vision in her right eye.

Dawn had no idea where to go. She had looked around everywhere and couldn't find a way out; she was just walking in circles. She was caught in the rush of escaping Rocket grunts; nobody really took notice as she was wearing their clothes.

Dawn had Piplup out with her as protection, he was a water type pokémon after all and he was her best defence against oncoming flames.

There was a loud crack as a beam started to fall in front of her. Dawn let out a loud scream and crouched down, covering her head with her hands. "Piplup!" Her pokémon cried and raced over to her, also trying to both give and get protection. The ground shook violently as the beam crashed into the ground in front of her, some of the floor breaking away at the impact of one end. Dawn couldn't help it; she was too scared to get up.

"Help!" She screamed as loudly as she could. "I'm lost!" She choked on the ending of the last word. "I don't know how to get out…" She whimpered.

"Hello?" A feminine voice called. "Is somebody there?"

Dawn perked up, sitting now. Piplup moved closer to her to provide some comfort. "Help me!" She shouted again.

"Dawn?" The voice said. "Hang on! I'll be right there, don't move!" Dawn listened silently as two pairs of footsteps raced around, "I see you, just a second!" The voice was muffled as it said something else, the beam was lifted up and the floor broke away more. "Run Dawn!" Dawn snatched up Piplup and raced under the beam, ducking under it. Dawn launched herself into May's arms, wrapping her one free arm around the brunette while Piplup was being held safely in the other. Her shoulders shook as she let her fright finally come through as tears.

"I thought I was lost, I couldn't find a way out of here." She sobbed and May gently stroked her head while holding her in a death grip.

May gently rocked them from side to side. "The exit's right here, not too far from us. I have you it's okay, don't worry anymore." May rest her head against the side of Dawn's "I thought Paul told you to stay with him, what happened? What happened to your head?" She demanded.

Dawn pulled away, wiping her face with a soot covered hand. "The Rocket grunts practically stampeded me in here, I couldn't see anybody I knew but Rocket grunts." She shook her head. "I-I was starting to freak out. It's felt like I was going in circles and then that beam fell." She pointed behind her and noticed May's Blaziken standing by the beam, smoke pooling into the room from the spot where the beam fell.

"We need to go." May said. "You're safe now, you're not alone." May comforted her and held onto Dawn's hand tightly. "Drew's not too far. He's looking somewhere else. There are three of us together."

"Where's Paul?" Dawn asked frantically. "Is he okay? What if he's stuck somewhere too? Oh Arceus…"

May nodded to Blaziken and started to pull Dawn away to the door. "I'm sure Paul's okay, he's strong as heck." Dawn laughed lightly at that. "I mean, have you seen that guy?" May asked. "He looks lean and skinny but man, that is not the case, I want to know if he does as much training for himself as he does for his pokémon, that's another thing, he's got all the crazy tough pokémon with him that can protect him perfectly fine if he can't take care of himself." May jumped over an overturned desk and helped Dawn along. "I'm sure we'll find him, then the Hoenn squad will be back together!" May laughed at herself this time, a smile growing on Dawn's face.

"Don't say that." Dawn giggled.

"What? Squad?" May questioned. "It's true though."

"Imagine if Cilan said something like that." Dawn wondered.

May threw her head back in a laugh. "It hasn't been all that long and I know Iris would probably dump his ass right then and there."

"Maybe not though." Dawn reasoned. May's idea was effectively working; she wanted to distract Dawn from the scene around her. "Iris has liked him forever; she might just give him a lecture or something instead."

May nodded. "Hm, yeah that seems more likely." Blaziken had moved in front of them and pushed open the door, standing there was Drew with another person. "Iris! Perfect!" May exclaimed. "We were just talking, what would you do if Cilan said squad?"

Iris exploded with laughter. "I don't really know what I'd do…. Maybe not feed him?"

"Oh my Arceus." Drew muttered. "That's extreme."

"But you don't cook… he does." Dawn said slowly.

Iris nodded. "Right, yeah. Maybe make him eat his own snot or something like that then."

Drew rubbed his face, a very prominent grimace stuck on it. "You're disgusting,"

"Thank you." Iris replied with a grin. "But let's remember, that any future kid you have will undoubtedly do that. So you better get used to the thought."

"Let's just get out of this hell hole please." Drew said and turned to walk down a flight of stairs. "We're on the second level so we're not too far from safety. "I saw somebody else get out, I couldn't tell who though."

"It was Cilan and Paul." Iris clarified. "I told them to get lost; Pansage needs medical attention badly so they're trying to sort that out right now. I saw you Drew, and I came back."

"Paul?" Dawn asked hopefully.

May elbowed her in the side. "See, I told you he'd be okay." May reached up and rubbed a finger against Dawn's head, showing her a red covered finger, "You however are not. Maybe doctor Paul can fix you up?" She gave her friend a wink.

"No, shut up!" Dawn averted her eyes. "Let's not let him do that please!" May grabbed a hold of Dawn's hand again and helped her down the stairs.

"Okay, maybe not him but how about doctor May?"

"I don't trust you."

"Actually, I'm the most qualified person here to be a doctor." Iris said. "Doctor Harrison isn't here, but I am, I'll fix you up."

They pushed open another door and Dawn looked around at the main lobby, everything was destroyed, burned and ripped couches, smashed desks and computers, charred plants, broken windows. There was obvious evidence that there was a small war within the building.

"There's the door," Drew said. "Be careful of the broken glass."

He was right, the glass doors had shattered and really, it couldn't even be labelled as a door, just smashed glass. May practically dragged Dawn through them; Iris had placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder and took Piplup from her in her free arm. Drew was closely walking behind, inspecting their movements.

It was still dark outside, but the nearby building had been lightened with an orange glow, rain fell down around them. She could see two bodies hunched over Pansage, one was holding their jacket over top of it and the other was busy giving it different berries and medications. "Let's bring her over with them May." Iris instructed. "Cilan has my bag and there's bandages and cleaning supplies in there."

"Okay." May nodded.

"Stop talking as if you're carrying me, May you're just holding my hand and Iris, you're squeezing my shoulder. I'm walking on my own." Dawn sighed. The warm rain felt refreshing against her skin compared to the dry hot air inside the Radio Tower.

"We need to be dramatic." May spoke quietly. "We need to get Paul to see you!"

"What?" Dawn exclaimed. "No, you said you wouldn't!"

"Cilan!" Iris called to her boyfriend. "Move my bag over, I need my stuff for Dawn!" Cilan didn't look up; her just pushed the bag to his left over and continued working. Paul however looked up and watched as they led Dawn to sit close next to him. She felt her cheeks heat up and rolled her one eye that she had open. "It's just a cut, I'm okay, my head didn't split open, it's nothing big, I just need it washed really, I don't even need a bandaid."

Iris appeared in front of her. "Hey Dawn, guess what."

"What?"

"Be quiet and don't complain."

Dawn gasped. "I'm not complaining!" She retorted quickly.

Iris rummaged through her bag, "What do you think Paul?"

Dawn didn't look at him, but she could guess his expression. "Just wash her off like she said, it's nothing serious. Head wounds just bleed a lot. She knows what's best for her body."

She sighed, "Thank you Paul."

"It's should still be bandaged though." He added.

Iris grinned. "Thank you Paul!"

A bright light suddenly blasted in the dark sky, Dawn jumped and gaped upwards.

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

"Clemont?" Serena asked and gently shook her friend. Clemont grunted and sat up, one of the lenses in his glasses was cracked and the other was clouded with dust. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, are you okay?" He replied back.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here, let me take those," She carefully took the glassed off of his face and rubbed the dust from the one unbroken glass. She placed them back on his face and stood up, suddenly feeling flustered.

"Uh…" He said slowly. "Thanks." He pushed himself up off of the ground. His blue coveralls were dirty and covered in soot and dust, they were torn in some spots but other than the appearance of his clothes, he seemed to be perfectly fine, just like he had said, well other than the bullet wound he had that was still clear to see. He still favoured one leg over the other. Clemont quickly turned his head to the side and coughed. The air was a light gray colour. Clemont turned back to her and frowned. "Your shoulder." He pointed to it, she looked down, there was a trickle of blood seeping through her cardigan.

"Oh, it's fine, I didn't even feel it." Serena squinted down the staircase. "I think we can get down." She said. "There's still stuff on the stairs but there's enough room for us to walk down." Clemont stepped up next to her and looked down.

"I don't know how safe it'll be." He said slowly as he looked it over. His eyes turned back to her and he looked at her shoulder again, then up to her eyes. "The ceiling is drywall and cement. That's pretty heavy stuff and the stairs could be under a lot of strain." He looked at her. "How much do you weigh?"

Serena blinked. "You're asking me how much I weigh?"

A blush dusted over Clemont's cheeks, "No! I mean yes! But I didn't mean for it to sound rude or something! I just—if I know I might be able to figure out if we can get down there safely!"

Serena frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well we are practically the same height so we should weigh the same."

"Yeah, but you're skinner than me."

Serena narrowed her eyes. "Thank you for the complement, but that won't get you a freebie."

"…Freebie?" Clemont said slowly, he was very confused.

Serena sighed. "I weigh 124 pounds."

"See, I do weigh more than you, and to make you happy, I'll tell you. I weigh 147 pounds, see much heavier." Clemont looked to the stairs again. "We can probably go down the stairs okay, but we should be careful and we should make sure to spread our weight." He looked to her again. "You should go first."

"Why would I go first?" She asked.

"Because you're 23 pounds lighter…" Clemont reasoned. "Do you trust me?" He held out his hand to her.

Serena stared at his open hand and nodded slowly; she grabbed it and let him lead her to the first step. She took a deep breath and started to gingerly walk down. Her shoes crunched the small pieces of debris as she carefully walked down. She reached the flat, square step and looked up at Clemont. He smiled at her. "Keep going, I'm coming down now, don't worry." She watched as he carefully took his turn and walked down the steps. After he was halfway down, she decided to continue down the next flight.

There had been no problems until the third flight of stairs. That was _if_ there was a third flight of stairs. "Clemont!" She called and looked up. Clemont paused and looked over the railing at her.

"Oh, well that's a problem…" He frowned. "I have something that can help us, hold on, it's part of my clemontic gear."

"Will it explode?" She asked. "That's the kind of thing we don't want to risk right now."

"No it's in my back pack. It'll actually work." He said.

It took a few minutes for Clemont to hobble down the stairs. He stood next to her and pressed a button on his backpack, a blade popped out, much like one on a plane. "If you had that, why didn't we use it before?"

"It takes up a lot of the energy stored in my bag. I don't want to use it all in one go in case we need it later." He glanced at her. "We-uh-I kinda need to hold onto you so we can both get down there."

"Oh yeah, right." She stood where she was. They both just looked awkwardly from one to another. "So how should we do this?" She asked, "What would be easier for you?"

Clemont's face turned red again, "Uh, here I'll just…" He crouched down and hooked one arm under her knees and lifted her up. Serena's eyes widened and there was only one spot to put her arms… around his neck…

"Mew, this shouldn't be so awkward…." She said quietly. "We're like best friends right? We've practically live with each other for over a year so, this isn't that bad."

"No, it's perfectly normal." Clemont agreed. "Okay so here we go." He said and the blade began spinning, slowly lifting them off of the ground and Clemont maneuvered them down past the gaping hole in the stairs. "I'll just take us down to the bottom; we'll be out faster…"

"Uh yeah sure." Serena agreed. Serena silently cursed herself, what was going on between the two of them?

It felt like ages later, they reached the lobby. Clemont carefully put her down and didn't look at her. She felt slightly hurt at that gesture. Clemont's hands moved up to adjust his glasses and unconsciously, she followed his movements, but instead of adjusting non-existent glasses, she touched her hair. "Come on, let's get outside. I can hear some of the others talking."

"Of course." He scratched the back of his head. "At least Bonnie will be happy." Clemont said quietly.

"Huh? Why?" Serena asked.

Clemont jerked his head up and looked at her as if he was a deerling caught in headlights, "Oh, she's been wanting me to get new glasses, she says these ones are too nerdy or whatever." He shrugged.

Serena looked at him. "I think they suit you, I like them. I want to come with you when you go and look for new ones."

"Oh, sure. You can come with me."

Serena smiled. "Great!"

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

Ash covered his nose with his shirt as he looked around the top floor room. "Leaf!" He called but it was muffled from his shirt. A hand placed itself on his shoulder and he quickly looked over, sighing a sigh of relief when his eyes met the green eyes of his girlfriend. Then they widened. "Mist! What are you doing here?"

"I followed you." She said. "I can't let you go and save people all by yourself."

"Yeah, but it's dangerous!" He exclaimed.

Misty shrugged. "And? I'm going to help you find Leaf and you can't stop me."

"Oh, I already knew I couldn't stop you." Ash shrugged. "But I don't like that you're here."

"Well I guess you'll have to deal with that feeling then." She smiled at him. "You can't do anything without me." She put her hand into his and began to lead the way around the room. "Leaf!" She shouted, louder than he had before.

"Nido!" A pokémon cried back in response.

"I'm here!" Leaf shouted.

Ash looked to the side closest to his girlfriend. "Where?" He called.

"I'm by—" She stopped talking for a moment, but started up again. "I'm by Proton."

Ash glanced over at Misty and they took off running. In no time they reached the spot where Leaf was standing, Nidoking, Nidoqueen and Blastiose were all standing next to her. Proton was still lying on the ground where he was left; a puddle of dark blood was around him.

"Is he…?"

Leaf stared down at the man and nodded solemnly. "I tried to help but..." She shrugged, "He breathed in a lot of smoke." She looked at Gary's pokémon. "We should go up to the deck. Gary needs his pokémon, I can hear a battle happening."

"You don't want to leave?" Ash asked in wonder.

Leaf shook her head. "We can help more up on the deck, they're fighting three legendary pokémon, they need all the help they can get." She pointed to tall metal shelves. "We need to grab our pokéballs, they're sitting right there. I saw Lyra grab hers from there while she was going upstairs.

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed loudly and pulled his hand from Misty's and raced over to the shelf.

Leaf laughed lightly as she followed after her long-time friend. "Pikachu really is your one true love." Misty drawled.

"Of course he is!" Ash found where his were shelved and immediately let out his electric-type partner.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed and raced around in happy circles. "Pikachu!" He jumped up into Ash's arms and affectionately rubbed noses with his trainer.

"Alright!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "Now we can get up to that deck and help out!" He looked to Leaf. "You got yours?" She nodded and he grinned. "Let's go then!"

Ash made a little jump and grabbed both Leaf and Misty's hands. Pikachu let out a squeal as he hung on tightly to his trainer's blue jacket. Ash raced to the stairs he saw out of the corner of his eye. Misty and Leaf crunched his hands into a death grip but he barely noticed as he took two or three steps at a time. Misty would often complain to his to slow down but he didn't listen, he had something else on his mind. There were a chorus of giggled coming from Leaf as she raced up the stairs just as fast as Ash did. He grinned, he was happy that his long-time friend was happy again and expressing it so freely.

Ash flung the door open and only one thing came from him. "Holy shit…"

He stared on as the rain poured down and there was a bright glow coming from Ho-Oh. "What is that?" Misty breathed from beside him. Nobody answered her question; they were all too busy staring in shock.

In a white flash, the golden light disappeared and there in the air was Ho-Oh who looked slightly different and there was a silhouette of a person standing on the shoulder of the bird. There was a dress billowing in the wind from the storm.

" _Who_ is that?" Misty asked this time, and she got an answer.

Ritchie looked back at him, an amazed expression on his face. "It's Lyra."

"What?" Ash asked quickly, "How? How did she…?" HE narrowed his eyes. "It kind of looks like the thing I can do with my Greninja."

Ritchie stared at him. "What exactly do you mean Ash? I've seen a lot of things over the past few years, and this is not one of them."

Ash let go of the two girl's hands. "It's like mega evolution, but it's not. Clemont has said that when it happens with Greninja and I, out heartbeats are at the same time and we can feel each other. It's kind of like we share a body."

"Share a body?" Gin was staring at Ash now. He had interest painted all over his face.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, but my appearance has never changed, always Greninja's." He shrugged and looked at the silhouette again. "I know for a fact that there is no way Lyra was wearing a dress before and if that really is her, she clearly is now."

"It doesn't matter how it happened." Ethan said. "Whatever she has done has worked. Ho-Oh isn't freaking out now, just the two Lugias."

"Lugia and Silver." Gin corrected. "Lugia's child is named Silver."

Ethan turned slightly to look at the red haired man. "You named the legendary you protect, after yourself… Really?"

Kris whipped around and smacked Ethan in the stomach. "Shut the hell up!" She whispered frantically to him. Ethan's eyes widened and he looked away.

Gary stared at from each of the three people, even to Ritchie who avoided eye contact. "What do you mean, named after yourself, his name is Gin, is it not?"

Gin glared harshly at Ethan. "Yes my name is Gin. Gin means silver." His cold gaze flicked to Gary. "Should we do the same?" He gestured to the now calm legendary. "Are you willing to do that for Lugia?"

Gary blinked. "I—"

"Gary," leaf said. The researcher turned around to look at her, she gave him a smile. "You can do it Gary."

He smiled back at her. "Of course I can, I am Gary Oak."

"Do you want Talonflame?" Ash offered. "You have no other way of getting over there." Gary nodded.

Gin walked over to Ethan, muttering a few words quietly to him before taking mount on Pidgeot. "Let's get going then. The final step until this is all over."

Ash released his fast flying pokémon and watched as Gary and Gin took off. "It's not the final step for the rest of us." He said. "There's still more regions that need to be helped."

* * *

 **June 21st, 2006**

It was hard to breathe at the speed Talonflame was flying. This pokémon was truly one of the fastest moving pokémon in the world. He held onto the glasses that were stuck on his face, they were helping him see by blocking the wind from pushing its way into his eyes. He steered Talonflame to follow after Gin and Pidgeot. The baby Lugia, or Silver, as Gin had said, was flying closely next to Lugia.

He could feel Lugia's eyes trailing him. It was moving its neck along in the same direction he was flying. Lugia wasn't causing as much commotion as before, maybe it was because of the help that its partner was no longer angered.

Gary couldn't help but think that Lugia's movements were very Arbok-like. Gary could tell that Talonflame felt intimidated by the large flying-type, Lugia was after all, the one in charge of the three legendary birds, Atricuno, Zapdos and Moltres and therefore had a large impact on other flying types as well. There was large proof of sightings of the three legendary birds in Kalos, whether they were the same ones born in Kanto or not, nobody knew, it was too hard to tell because they were no up-close sightings as far as they knew aside form one sighting by a kid photographer named Trevor Lockwood.

Gary slid his hand through Talonflame's orange feathers. "Don't be scared." He said, hoping he could hear him. "We both need to be as brave as we can so we can calm it, right? You're not on your own remember, you have me here with you and even Gin and Pidgeot."

"Talon!" Talonflame cried and suddenly jerked forward, flying fasted and tumbling directly onto Lugia's back.

"Perfect!" Gary shouted as he steadied his footing and held on tightly to the now angered and wildly thrashing pokémon. "Perfect Talonflame! Thank you!" He praised and made a mad dash to Lugia's neck, following Lyra's actions to a T. "Lugia, Lugia!" He shouted. He could hear faint calls for the name Silver not too far off, obviously from Gin. Gary gripped tightly into one of the protruding squared-spike like shapes. Gary let go and flung himself forward. "Lugia can you hear me?" He asked. "My name and Gary Oak and I'm the person who you, or Arceus, or the world, or whoever has chosen to be the one who protects you remember? You gave me those awful migraines when you tried to connect with me and guess what? I'm here, quite literally on your shoulder." He pushed his glasses up and held onto Lugia with one arm, now using his other to hold his long brown locks from his face. "You know you're a pretty great parent. If I ever have kids I hope to be like you." Suddenly Gary's breathing was automatically changed and he felt lightheaded. It didn't feel like he had control of his body's movements anymore, it just did whatever. "You're such a good pokémon and really, I'm jealous. I can't just have you're nurturing and kind personality. I'm stuck with this god awful cocky one as my friends say," He laughed. "How about we make a compromise? You help me and I help you."

Lugia's wings made a great beat and it let out a small noise, as if it was shy.

Gary grinned. "Great!"

* * *

 **And that's it! The final chapter! The prolouge for the next book, Bringing Restoration is up on my profile so give it a peek, the first chapter will for sure be updated by next monday, or maybe sooner? :))))**

 **I'm so happy that this first part is done, a little sad too but the adventure is far from over!**

 **Stay tuned and have a lovely week!**


End file.
